The Biden administration on Friday finalized regulations limiting new oil and gas leasing and offering new protections in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska sensitive to the wildlife habitat and Indigenous communities.
In a statement, the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management said it finalized rules limiting future leases and industrial development to protect resources on the more than 13.3 million acres in existing Special Areas within the NPR-A.
The rule also codified existing prohibitions on new leasing in 10.6 million acres, or more than 40% of the NPR-A, BLM said.
BLM is mandated by Congress to balance oil and gas development with the management and protection of significant resource values in locations known as Special Areas.
The NPR-A is about 23 million acres of pristine public land on Alaska North Slope. The NPR-A is important to more than 40 Indigenous communities for their subsistence and is the habitat to endangered wildlife including grizzly and polar bears, caribou and migratory birds.
BLM first proposed the rule in September 2023, and it has received more than 100,000 comments during the public comment period including those from oil and gas producers, Alaska Native Tribes and conservation organizations, it said.
"This misguided rule from the Biden administration sharply limits future oil and natural gas development in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve, a region explicitly intended by Congress to bolster America's energy security while generating important economic growth and revenue for local Alaskan communities," the American Petroleum Institute, the biggest U.S. oil and gas trade group, said in a statement.
In addition, BLM also rejected a proposal by Alaska's state agency to build a 210-mile road known as the Ambler Road project to enable mining development in north central Alaska.
In March, the Biden administration approved the controversial Willow oil project allowing ConocoPhillips to drill in the oil-rich Alaska North Slope basin under federal oil and gas leases, a move that could increase U.S. domestic oil production by 180,000 b/d.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-19-24 1317ET
