During his second term, President-elect Donald Trump could open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling, undoing President Biden's

Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Trump could unleash drilling in Alaska’s 19 million-acre refuge
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Thursday, December 5, 2024
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Hillebrand/USFWS ([link removed])

During his second term, President-elect Donald Trump could open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, undoing President Biden's efforts ([link removed]) to limit drilling in the refuge. The refuge is a vast 19 million-acre intact ecosystem along Alaska’s north slope, home to polar bears, musk oxen, wolves, and wolverines. The first Trump administration opened ([link removed]) 1.5 million acres of the refuge's coastal plain to the oil and gas industry and held the refuge's first oil and gas lease sale.

President-elect Trump has promised ([link removed]) to drill on the refuge when he returns to office, falsely claiming ([link removed]) that it holds more oil than Saudi Arabia. This is in line with the plan outlined in Project 2025, which calls for an immediate expansion of oil and gas drilling in Alaska, including in the refuge.

Yet the oil and gas industry might not be interested ([link removed]) . During the first Trump administration, only two small companies submitted bids for leases in the refuge and later relinquished them. Drilling in the refuge is difficult and expensive because of its remoteness and the lack of existing infrastructure. There is currently only one certain bidder ([link removed]) , the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which recently approved a plan to bid in the upcoming auction.

Native groups in the area are divided on drilling in the refuge. Iñupiaq leaders have stated ([link removed]) that it could create new economic opportunities, while the Gwich’in Nation opposes drilling and urges new protections ([link removed]) for the region.


** Quick hits
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Lawmakers call on Biden to disburse remaining IRA climate funds before leaving office

The Hill ([link removed])

As conservationists brace for border wall expansion, study looks at how wildlife has fared so far

KJZZ ([link removed])

California conservation efforts have raised Lake Mead by 16 feet in two years

Nevada Current ([link removed])

Two bills in Congress could reshape Nevada's public lands near Las Vegas and Reno

KNPR ([link removed])

The ESA is about to board the Trump roller coaster

E&E News ([link removed])

USFWS adopts lynx recovery plan, proposes new critical habitat designations

WyoFile ([link removed]) | Daily Montanan ([link removed]) | Missoula Current ([link removed]) | Center Square ([link removed])

What Trump’s second administration could mean for environmental justice

Washington Post ([link removed])

Woman accused of vandalizing sacred petroglyph in southern Utah

Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” Every species on the planet has had to have migrated at some point, and here we can really see the effects of this border wall at blocking this migration.”

—Myles Trapagen, borderlands program coordinator for the Wildlands Network, KJZZ ([link removed])


** Picture This
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[link removed]

@usinterior ([link removed])
Blending perfectly with the gray-brown bark of its perch, the great gray owl becomes one with the forest.

With exceptional hearing and prominent facial disks, these majestic hunters locate voles from low vantage points, detecting even the faintest sounds beneath layers of snow. They attack with a short, hovering flight, pouncing feet first toward their prey through the snow.

Photo by @usfws ([link removed])

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