"The Biden administration is shrinking the amount of land eligible for drilling at an oil reserve in the Arctic.

The administration announced on Monday that it would return to an Obama administration plan that would enable the government to lease up to 52 percent of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska  for oil and gas exploration. It reverses a Trump-era plan that would have opened up 82 percent of the reserve.

While the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had previously indicated that it had selected the Obama administration’s plan as its “preferred alternative” for further consideration, on Monday it issued a Record of Decision formally affirming that it would return to the Obama-era plan."

Rachel Frazin reports for The Hill April 25, 2022. [2]