In Alaska there are said to be enormous reserves of oil and gas. There has been controversy in US politics for decades about possible exploitation. If the Trump administration has its way, this is over: the first drilling licenses are to be auctioned at the end of the year.
The US government is setting the course for the production of oil and natural gas in an arctic nature reserve in Alaska. The Ministry of the Interior presented a timetable for this. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told the Wall Street Journal that he expected the first drilling rights to be auctioned at the end of the year.
The exploitation was decided along with the 2017 tax reform by the then Republican-ruled Congress. The Ministry of the Interior was commissioned to define the framework for this.
According to the plans presented on Monday, drilling will be permitted in up to eight percent of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. Significant deposits of oil and gas are believed to be in the area, and potential exploitation has been disputed for decades. According to the Congress decision, the first drilling rights are to be sold by the end of 2021. At the same time, resistance from environmentalists to the funding is to be expected.
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