US cancels oil and gas contract in Alaska to protect wildlife

The Trump administration then granted the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) seven oil and gas leases in the Arctic national wildlife refuge just one day before President Joe Biden's inauguration.

Polar bears in Alaska are declining in numbers. Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The cancellation of the contract shows the Biden administration’s commitment to protecting 19.6 million acres (7.7 million hectares) of habitat for polar bears and caribou, and environmentalists and an Alaska Native group praised the move.

The Interior Department also said it would protect 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, a 23 million-acre area that is the largest undisturbed public land in the U.S. It would prohibit new leasing on more than 10 million acres, or more than 40% of the total area.

“As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world , we have a responsibility to protect this precious region for every generation,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.

The actions are Mr. Biden’s latest effort to curb excessive oil and gas drilling on public lands, part of a broader agenda to combat climate change.

In a statement, the US Department of the Interior said a new environmental review determined that the analysis underlying the 2021 lease award was "fatally flawed," giving Secretary Deb Haaland the authority to cancel the lease.

Alaska’s oil production has been declining steadily over the past three decades. Officially, the state now produces less than 500,000 barrels of crude a day, down from more than 2 million barrels a day in 1988.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/my-huy-hop-dong-khai-thac-dau-khi-o-alaska-de-bao-ve-dong-vat-hoang-da-post263569.html