Jan. 17—The Biden administration on Thursday rolled out last-minute plans to add protections for more than 3 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska for subsistence resources.
A portion of the areas chosen for additional protections is close to Nuiqsut, an Iñupiaq village in the northeastern area of the reserve, and ConocoPhillips’ massive Willow oil project and Nuna project, which produced first oil last month.
“The main conclusion is that subsistence resources must be acknowledged as a significant resource value in the reserve,” said Acting Deputy Interior Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis in a press call.
The Interior Department outlined steps to expand existing “special areas” in the NPR-A — where resource development is restricted — in consultation with Alaska Native tribes. The department also wants to establish a new, Nuiqsut Subsistence Use Special Area.
The department said interim measures would be enacted immediately. Those include directing the Bureau of Land Management to evaluate any proposed construction for potential impacts to subsistence resources such as caribou and fish.
Interior officials said that valid, existing rights for development would be respected. They said that the new protections would follow federal law that requires the department to administer an oil and gas program in the reserve.
In April, the Biden administration announced significant development restrictions in the NPR-A that limited oil and gas leasing in roughly half of the reserve. Interior solicited comments on whether to enact protections for subsistence resources.
Daniel-Davis said the department’s actions to protect subsistence were based on 88,000 comments from residents of North Slope communities.
ConocoPhillips on Thursday argued the new rules would effectively create a wilderness area in a reserve that Congress set aside for oil development.
“This 11th hour effort to impose interim measures by the outgoing administration is tied to the unlawful rules that are being challenged in court by those who live, work and raise families on the North Slope,” company spokesperson Rebecca Boys said by email.
The interim measures do not affect the Willow project, which is already under construction, according to ConocoPhillips. However, the measures could impact future developments in the NPR-A, Boys said.
Interior’s announcement comes days before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office. Trump, and his Republican allies in Congress, have said they plan to reverse the Biden administration’s restrictions on resource development.
Environmental groups, and some Alaska Native groups, applauded the Biden administration’s decisions for the Western Arctic region.
“This action reflects a commitment to prioritizing people, wildlife, and the climate over corporate profits, solidifying President Biden’s Arctic legacy,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, through a prepared statement.
Nauri Simmonds, executive director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, said she welcomed any safeguards that “will benefit our descendants.”
Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat — a nonprofit representing a group of North Slope leaders and organizations — said Interior had selectively listened to Indigenous voices that agreed with its agenda.
The group said it “looked forward to building a more collaborative relationship” with the Trump administration.
Conservation groups applauded the Biden administration’s April management plan. But ConocoPhillips sued the administration in July.
Alaska’s congressional delegation blasted Interior’s actions.
“The interim measures floated today, as well as the 2024 “management” rule for the petroleum reserve, need to be immediately repealed so that balanced management can be restored,” U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said on social media.
“The silver lining? Only four more days of this,” she added.
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