Trump Administration Moves to Open Arctic Refuge to Drilling Studies
According to the memo, dated Aug. 11, James W. Kurth, the acting director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, told the regional director of the agency’s Alaska office
that officials had been told to “update the regulations concerning geological and geophysical exploration of the coastal plain, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.” The attached proposal eliminates date restrictions that the agency had imposed for submitting an exploration plan and moves to allow them “in any given year.”
Americans overwhelmingly believe that global warming is happening, and that carbon emissions should be scaled back.
A federal judge in Alaska in 2015 upheld that decision, saying
that while the law was “ambiguous” the administration’s argument was “based on a permissible and reasonable construction of statute.”
Heather Swift, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, declined to comment on the memo but referred to a May 31 event
that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke held in Anchorage when he signed a secretarial order reassessing the current management plans of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
An internal Interior Department memo has proposed lifting restrictions on exploratory seismic studies in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, a possible first step toward opening the pristine wilderness area to oil and gas drilling.
Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, called the agency’s move “reckless
and irresponsible.” Allowing seismic testing, she said, lays the groundwork for opening the Arctic refuge.
But people who follow the industry said Saturday they thought the Interior Department’s proposal
to allow seismic exploration was an important step in taking stock for the future.