It’s also approving two other contentious projects in Alaska: Ambler Road, which will enable copper and cobalt mining; and Izembek Road, which will cut through a wildlife refuge to give a remote community airport access.
The Interior Department said in a press release that it was issuing a final approval of a plan to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s (ANWR) 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain for oil and gas development.
The Biden administration had limited the lands available to the 400,000 acres required by law.
Opponents of such drilling have raised concerns about impacts to wildlife and tribal resources as the refuge is home to grizzly bears, polar bears, gray wolves, caribou and more than 200 species of birds and contains land considered sacred by the Gwich’in people.
However, drilling also has native proponents, who argue that oil and gas could help support the local economy.
Read more at TheHill.com.
