Joe Biden bans all new gas and oil development in several areas of northern Alaska

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday September 6 that it would ban any new gas or oil exploitation in a huge area of ​​​​northern Alaska, five months after having nevertheless approved a hydrocarbon project in the same region.

This new measure concerns more than four million hectares, an area comparable to that of Denmark, within the national petroleum reserve, a vital natural space for populations of grizzly bears, polar bears, caribou and hundreds of thousands of migrating birds.

“Alaska is home to many of America’s most beautiful natural wonders”US President Joe Biden said in a statement. “As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the globe, we have a responsibility to protect these precious regions for centuries to come”he added.

The Department of the Interior, in charge of federal lands in the United States, has also added that it has canceled seven operating permits authorized under President Donald Trump in another protected area in northern Alaska.

The government of the Democratic president had been widely criticized by environmental activists after its decision in March to authorize a vast oil project by the American giant ConocoPhillips in this same national oil reserve. The decision announced Wednesday does not call into question this project, called Willow.

Reduced to three drilling zones against the five initially requested by the company, it will cost between 8 and 10 billion dollars and will result in a total of the indirect emission of the equivalent of 239 million tonnes of CO₂.

Catch-up

Environmental associations had denounced a catastrophe for the climate, and some see Wednesday’s announcement as a catch-up on the part of the Biden administration.

The new plan announced Wednesday also prohibits drilling in an area of ​​more than one million hectares in the Beaufort Sea, located north of the northern coast of Alaska, and aid for local indigenous populations.

These measures “are illegal, reckless, defy common sense, and are the latest evidence of President Biden’s incoherent energy policy”reacted the Republican senator of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, in a press release, denouncing a lack of consultation with the indigenous communities concerned.

Joe Biden had promised during his campaign for the presidency a freeze on oil exploitation permits, a promise not kept. Observers point out that court decisions have limited its room for maneuver in this case.

The Democratic president also passed a huge $400 billion climate investment plan last year.