"An oil-and-gas auction is slated for the refuge’s coastal plain, which provides critical habitat for caribou, polar bears and other wildlife."

"The Biden administration moved Wednesday to narrow the scope of an oil-and-gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that was mandated under President Donald Trump.

The plan underscores how the Biden administration is racing to cement its environmental legacy mere hours after Trump secured a second term. Trump has vowed to boost oil drilling in the refuge, as part of broader plans to expand fossil fuel production on public lands across the country.

For nearly four decades, drilling was banned in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, whose 19.3 million acres provide critical habitat for the Southern Beaufort Sea’s remaining polar bears, along with tens of thousands of migrating caribou and waterfowl. But in 2017, Trump signed a tax bill mandating at least two lease sales in the refuge’s 1.6 million-acre coastal plain by the end of 2024."

Maxine Joselow reports for the Washington Post November 6, 2024. [2]