Biden Administration Keeps 28M acres in Alaska Closed to Drilling, Mining
By Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will keep in place protections against potential oil and gas development and mining claims on 28 million acres of federal land across Alaska, the federal government said Aug. 27. The lands were protected from such development in the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The Trump administration took steps to remove the protections, an effort supported by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan. The Biden administration said it found legal flaws in the previous administration’s effort, leading to a new environmental review to determine the best use of the lands. Haaland signed the decision, following an environmental review and public input. A new public land order will retain the protections. “Continuing these essential protections, which have been in place for decades, will ensure continued access and use of these public lands now and in the
future,” Haaland said in a statement from the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the lands. Resource development companies including mining, oil and gas have objected strongly to the election-year move to garner environmental votes for the Harris campaign. Dunleavy said on social media Tuesday that the decision is “the latest sanction against Alaska by the Biden-Harris administration.” “They are attempting to turn Alaska into one big national park,” Dunleavy said. “Alaska is still owed five million acres of land under the Statehood Act. Every one of these sanctions harms Alaska’s ability to prosper.” Sullivan said in a statement that the decision “harms our jobs and economy, and our Alaska Native communities,” locking up acreage that he said the federal government owes to Alaskans. Joe Plesha, communications director for Murkowski, said public land orders have become “political land orders” under the Biden administration.
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September 2024 I The Alaska Miner I www.alaskaminers.org
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