Skip to content
August 4, 2025
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • tiktok
MILLENNIUM NEWS 24/7

MILLENNIUM NEWS 24/7

Bridging The Community’s World Wide

  • Home
  • IP TV LIVE
  • PODCAST
  • U.S.News
  • LOCAL ELECTION
  • State News
    • Alabama
    • Alaska
    • Arizona
    • Arkansas
    • California
    • Colorado
    • Connecticut
    • Delaware
    • Florida
    • Georgia
    • Hawaii
    • Idaho
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Kentucky
    • Louisiana
    • Maryland
    • Massachusetts
    • Michigan
    • Maine
    • Minnesota
    • Mississippi
    • Missouri
    • Montana
    • Nebraska
    • Nevada
    • New Hampshire
    • New Jersey
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • North Carolina
    • North Dakota
    • Oregon
    • Pennsylvania
    • Rhode Island
    • South Carolina
    • South Dakota
    • Tennessee
    • Texas
    • Virginia
    • Washington
    • West Virginia
    • U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Politics
  • World News
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Weather
  • Business
  • Advisement
  • Health News
  • About Us
  • Contact us
Live TV

Biden administration restricts oil and gas leasing in 13 million acres of Alaska’s petroleum reserve

JUNEAU, Alaska — The Biden administration said Friday it will restrict new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres (5.3 million hectares) of a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska to help protect wildlife such as caribou and polar bears as the Arctic continues to warm.

The decision — part of a yearslong fight over whether and how to develop the vast oil resources in the state — finalizes protections first proposed last year as the Democratic administration prepared to approve the contentious Willow oil project.

The approval of Willow drew fury from environmentalists, who said the large oil project violated President Joe Biden’s pledge to combat climate change. Friday’s decision also completes an earlier plan that called for closing nearly half the reserve to oil and gas leasing.

A group of Republican lawmakers, led by Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, jumped out ahead of Friday’s announcement about drilling limitations in the National Petroleum-Reserve Alaska before it was publicly announced. Sullivan called it an “illegal” attack on the state’s economic lifeblood, and he predicted lawsuits.

“It’s more than a one-two punch to Alaska,” the state’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, “because when you take off access to our resources, when you say you cannot drill, you cannot produce, you cannot explore, you cannot move it — this is the energy insecurity that we’re talking about.”

The decision by the Interior Department doesn’t change the terms of existing leases in the reserve or affect currently authorized operations, including Willow.

In an olive branch to environmentalists, the Biden administration also Friday recommended the rejection of a state corporation’s application related to a proposed 210-mile (338-kilometer) road in the northwest part of the state to allow mining of critical mineral deposits, including including copper, cobalt, zinc, silver and gold. There are no mining proposals or current mines in the area, however, and the proposed funding model for the Ambler Road project is speculative, the Interior Department said in a statement.

Sullivan accused the administration of undermining U.S. national security interests with both decisions. Alaska political leaders have long accused the administration of harming the state with decisions limiting the development of oil and gas, minerals and timber.

“Joe Biden is fine with our adversaries producing energy and dominating the world’s critical minerals while shutting down our own in America, as long as the far-left radicals he feels are key to his reelection are satisfied,’’ Sullivan said Thursday at a Capitol news conference with 10 other GOP senators. “What a dangerous world this president has created.”

Biden defended his decision regarding the petroleum reserve.

Alaska’s “majestic and rugged lands and waters are among the most remarkable and healthy landscapes in the world,” are critical to Alaska Native communities and “demand our protection,” he said in a statement.

Nagruk Harcharek, president of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, a group whose members include leaders from across much of Alaska’s North Slope region, has been critical of the administration’s approach. The group’s board of directors previously passed a resolution opposing the administration’s plans for the reserve.

The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s top lobbying group, called the rule “misguided’’ and said it sharply limits future oil and natural gas development in the petroleum reserve, “a region explicitly intended by Congress to bolster America’s energy security’’ and generate revenue for Alaskan communities.

“At a time when the world is looking for American energy leadership, this is yet another step in the wrong direction,” said Dustin Meyer, an API senior vice president.

The petroleum reserve, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is home to caribou and polar bears and provides habitat for millions of migrating birds. It was set aside around a century ago as an emergency oil source for the U.S. Navy, but since the 1970s it has been overseen by the Interior Department. There has been ongoing, longstanding debate over where oil and gas development should occur.

Most existing leases in the petroleum reserve are clustered in an area that’s considered to have high development potential, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which falls under the Interior Department. The development potential in other parts of the reserve is lower, the agency said.

The rules announced Friday would place restrictions on future leasing and industrial development in areas designated as special for their wildlife, subsistence or other values and call for the agency to evaluate regularly whether to designate new special areas or bolster protections in those areas. The agency cited as a rationale the rapidly changing conditions in the Arctic due to climate change, including melting permafrost and changes in plant life and wildlife corridors.

About Author

Habib Habib

See author's posts

Continue Reading

Previous: Taylor Swift drops 15 new songs on double album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology’
Next: Jury selection could be nearing a close in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York

Related Stories

Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as officials say 27 aid-seekers killed in Gaza

Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as officials say 27 aid-seekers killed in Gaza

Pope Leo XIV tells 1 million Catholic youths that they are ‘the sign a different world is possible’

Pope Leo XIV tells 1 million Catholic youths that they are ‘the sign a different world is possible’

‘They roll right over’: Many Democrats call their party weak and ineffective, NORC poll finds

‘They roll right over’: Many Democrats call their party weak and ineffective, NORC poll finds

Entertainment

Flaco Jimenez, Texas accordionist who expanded popularity of conjunto and Tejano music, dies at 86 1

Flaco Jimenez, Texas accordionist who expanded popularity of conjunto and Tejano music, dies at 86

Jeannie Seely, soulful country singer behind hits like ‘Don’t Touch Me,’ dies at 85 2

Jeannie Seely, soulful country singer behind hits like ‘Don’t Touch Me,’ dies at 85

Justin Timberlake says he’s been diagnosed with Lyme disease 3

Justin Timberlake says he’s been diagnosed with Lyme disease

Martha’s Vineyard film fest returns with Black star power, bold storytelling and cultural legacy 4

Martha’s Vineyard film fest returns with Black star power, bold storytelling and cultural legacy

In ‘Sinners’ and his music, Buddy Guy is keeping the blues alive. It hasn’t been easy 5

In ‘Sinners’ and his music, Buddy Guy is keeping the blues alive. It hasn’t been easy

A small Serbian town is home to Robin Hood — in a new TV series 6

A small Serbian town is home to Robin Hood — in a new TV series

Benin grants citizenship to descendants of enslaved people. US singer Ciara is among the first 7

Benin grants citizenship to descendants of enslaved people. US singer Ciara is among the first

Top News

Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as officials say 27 aid-seekers killed in Gaza

Israeli minister prays at flashpoint holy site as officials say 27 aid-seekers killed in Gaza

Pope Leo XIV tells 1 million Catholic youths that they are ‘the sign a different world is possible’

Pope Leo XIV tells 1 million Catholic youths that they are ‘the sign a different world is possible’

‘They roll right over’: Many Democrats call their party weak and ineffective, NORC poll finds

‘They roll right over’: Many Democrats call their party weak and ineffective, NORC poll finds

The Justice Department seeks voter and election information from at least 19 states

The Justice Department seeks voter and election information from at least 19 states

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • tiktok
Editor: Nur M Tofader, Head Office: 544 Taylor Avenue Bronx New York USA 10473, Tell: 7186396600, 7186396800, 7188441300, Email: Info@millenniuamnews24.com, Copyright © Millennium News 24/7 | DarkNews by AF themes.