No bids submitted for oil and gas lease sale in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said Wednesday that no bids were received for the oil and gas leases in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
The deadline for submitting bids was Jan. 6, ahead of an auction that had been scheduled for Jan. 10.
“The lack of interest from oil companies in development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge reflects what we and they have known all along – there are some places too special and sacred to put at risk with oil and gas drilling,” Laura Daniel-Davis, the U.S. Department of the Interior`s acting deputy secretary, said.
The 2017 Tax Act required the BLM to hold two Coastal Plain lease sales within seven years.
The first sale, held under the previous administration, also saw little interest, with just $14.4 million in bids for 11 parcels of land, the Interior Department said in a news release.
The Tax Act had initially expected the lease sales to bring in some $2 billion over a decade.
Proposal ‘misguided’ says acting deputy secretary
In the first sale, two leases were canceled and refunded at the request of the oil companies. The other seven were canceled by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland because of legal problems with the sale. As a result, there are no active leases in the Coastal Plain.
“This proposal was misguided in 2017, and it’s misguided now,” Daniel-Davis said.
“The BLM has followed the law and held two lease sales that have exposed the false promises made in the Tax Act. The oil and gas industry is sitting on millions of acres of undeveloped leases elsewhere; we’d suggest that’s a prudent place to start, rather than engage further in speculative leasing in one of the most spectacular places in the world.”
The Arctic Refuge is known for its wilderness and habitats for wildlife and its importance to the Alaskan Iñupiat and the Gwich’in people of Alaska and Canada.
The news on the leases comes the same week President Biden announced a ban on oil and gas drilling in the Northern Bering Sea and other U.S. coastal areas, protecting over 625 million acres.
President-elect Trump, set to take office on January 20, campaigned on expanding drilling in Alaska and other regions, and said on social media he plans to reverse such orders.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Community in northern Quebec to make the jump from diesel to hydroelectricity, CBC News
Finland: The world could transition entirely to cheap, safe renewable energy before 2050: Finnish study, Yle News
Norway: Chinese rig finds oil in Barents Sea, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Production comes to halt at Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2: Bloomberg, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Swedish developer GRANGEX buys iron ore mine on Norway’s border to Russia, The Independent Barents Observer
United States: Alaska governor asks Trump to roll back restrictions on oil and gas drilling, The Associated Press
