A sale to drill on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge yielded no bids this week, the Interior Department announced — capping off decades of debate over the drilling in the vast wildlife refuge.
The White House drew ire from environmental groups when it announced last month that it would proceed with a congressionally mandated oil sale on the Alaska refuge. At the same time, President Joe Biden, who once was adamantly opposed to Arctic drilling, was slammed by oil advocates and Alaska lawmakers for limiting drilling to a minimum 400,000 acres.
President-elect Donald Trump signed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which mandated two sales on the refuge’s coastal plain, the first of which was held in January 2021. Trump often bragged in speeches about opening the 19-million-acre refuge to drilling after 40 years of unsuccessful attempts by other Republican presidents and Alaska lawmakers.
But now, the issue appears to be moot, with no drilling leases being bid on during the January sale. Biden administration officials heralded the outcome as a victory for protecting the Arctic.
