The Biden administration’s scaling back of leasing will certainly help, but there remain existing drilling leases in Alaska that continue to pose concerning and significant environmental consequences.
John,
Some good news/bad news for you today.
First, the good news. The Biden administration is moving quickly to restrict oil leasing and drilling in Alaska.
In a move reversing efforts by the Trump administration to expand oil production in the National Petroleum Reserve, the Interior Department plans to block oil and gas leasing on 11 million acres on Alaska’s North Slope.
That’s approximately half of the 23-million acre reserve designated for energy development during the Harding administration in 1923.
The Trump administration wanted to expand the land available for leasing to 18.6 million acres, a move which prompted environmentalists to sue in federal court.
Now, the bad news. While the latest action by the Biden administration to restrict leasing is to be applauded, scientists are concerned continued drilling in the frozen soils of the Arctic will release methane gas currently trapped in the permafrost.
In turn, this will lead to faster bursts of climate warming, with dire consequences.
As the Smithsonian magazine recently described, it is a “ticking methane bomb of greenhouse gases.”
The Biden administration’s scaling back of leasing will certainly help, but there remain existing drilling leases in Alaska that continue to pose concerning and significant environmental consequences.
John, the administration and Congress must move to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Until we do, our efforts to combat climate change will only go so far.
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