Under Pressure, Biden Opts For Minimum Acreage Possible In Drilling Decision

The Biden administration announced on Monday it will proceed with the smallest possible oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This move barely meets the mandates set by Congress, under the shadow of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Bureau of Land Management is compelled to auction drilling rights in the area by year’s end, despite vocal opposition from many within the Democratic Party, according to The Hill. This approach includes leasing exactly 400,000 acres—the least required by law.

Set for Jan. 9, the impending lease sale positions itself as a contentious prelude to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who will assume office a mere 11 days later, The Hill reported. This timing is a potential pivot towards more expansive energy policies favored by the previous Trump administration, which executed the first such lease sale in 2021.

The Biden administration had previously suspended several leases issued during the 2021 sale, citing “multiple legal deficiencies,” the outlet said. Citing the need for ecological preservation, the current administration is confining the upcoming sale to areas deemed to have the highest potential for oil and gas findings, explicitly avoiding regions critical for polar bear denning and migratory bird nesting.

Moreover, the Arctic refuge—a sanctuary for species such as grizzly bears, polar bears, gray wolves, and caribou, as well as more than 200 bird species—is revered by the Gwich’in people for its sacred lands, The Hill reported. The Gwich’in are an indigenous people whose traditional territory spans the regions of northern Alaska in the United States and the Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada, according to the Gwich’in Council International’s website.

The Gwich’in territories historically stretched from the mountainous sources of the Peel and Arctic Red Rivers in the south to the Mackenzie Delta in the north and from the Anderson River in the east to the Richardson Mountains in the west, Gwich’in Council International said. Centered around the Porcupine Caribou herd, which provided essential food, tools, and clothing, the Gwich’in sustained a nomadic way of life until the 1870s when the arrival of fur traders led to the establishment of trading posts and eventual settlements.

In 2023, Biden said that he had aimed to halt all drilling along the East Coast, West Coast, and in the Gulf, but legal defeats hindered these plans. He disclosed this in response to a question about fulfilling his extensive climate and green energy promises to younger constituents.