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On Tuesday, the Biden administration revoked a land-exchange deal made during the Trump administration that would have allowed a road to be built through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement that the department would begin a new process to review previous land exchange proposals, leaving the door open for another land exchange—and another road proposal—in the future. Road proponents argue a road is necessary to connect the remote community of King Cove to an airport, hospital care, and other services; the proposed road would also impact undisturbed tundra and wetlands and fragment important wildlife habitat. "The debate around approving the construction of a road to connect the people of King Cove to life-saving resources has created a false choice, seeded over many years, between valuing conservation and wildlife or upholding our commitments to Indigenous communities. I reject that binary choice," Haaland said.
The move follows an announcement on Sunday that the administration is withdrawing 2.8 million acres in the Beaufort Sea, putting the Arctic Ocean off-limits to new leasing when combined with previous protections. The administration also announced that it is initiating a rulemaking process to protect 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska from future oil and gas leasing. This proposed rule, along with others such as those to implement reforms to the oil and gas program, must be released by April of this year if the administration hopes to avoid having the final rule overturned by the Congressional Review Act.
These important actions should have been unequivocal conservation wins for the administration. However, the administration also approved the controversial Willow oil and gas project, breaking a promise Biden had made during his presidential campaign. Already the decision is drawing legal challenges. Trustees for Alaska, which successfully sued to block approval of the project in 2020, during the Trump administration, is representing a coalition of organizations that filed suit on Tuesday, alleging that the federal government's analyses supporting the project's approval were flawed. Other lawsuits are likely to follow.
Also this week, at a fundraising event in California, Biden said, "Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are either going to live lives that are decent and honorable and good, or they’re going to be in real trouble. If we go to about 1.5 degrees centigrade above where we are now, we’re done; there’s no way to turn it around." In an interview on The Daily Show that aired Monday evening, Biden said, "If we don’t keep the temperature from going above 1.5 degrees Celsius raised, then we’re in real trouble." The approval of the Willow project, a 'carbon bomb' projected to produce up to 287 million metric tons of carbon pollution, is inconsistent with keeping warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Biden also visited Las Vegas this week but did not take advantage of the opportunity to make good on his promise, made over 100 days ago, to designate Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument, despite initial reports that a designation was planned to take place during the visit.
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[The Willow project approval] is a grievous mistake. It greenlights a carbon bomb, sets back the climate fight and emboldens an industry hell-bent on destroying the planet.”
