The Biden administration finalized a rule on Friday that would ban fossil fuel drilling in 40% of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, blocking over 13 million acres in the Western Arctic from being used.
“These natural wonders demand our protection,” Biden said in a statement. Biden bragged about his administration’s efforts to conserve the 13 million acres, but added that “as the climate crisis imperils communities across the country, more must be done.”
The move upset some Alaska Natives that said that their community depends on the tax revenue that they receive from drilling to fund schools and basic services, and that the move will “hurt the very residents the federal government purports to help by rolling back years of progress, impoverishing our communities, and imperiling our Iñupiaq culture.
Rep. Mary Peltola (D), Alaska’s lone congress person, also criticized the move, accusing the administration of not listening to the will of the people.
“Alaska has a wealth of natural resources that can be responsibly developed to help boost domestic manufacturing and innovation — in the end, it should be up to Alaskans to decide what they want developed in their regions,” Peltola said.
“We’re barely 50 years away from getting indoor plumbing, and that was brought by oil and gas,” Doreen Leavitt, director of natural resources for the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope said, adding, “We feel that our voices haven’t been listened to.”