Biggest Threat Yet to Arctic Refuge as Trump Readies Last-Minute Lease Sale desmogblog.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from desmogblog.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge faces its biggest threat yet.”
That s the warning issued by the National Audubon Society on Tuesday a day before the Trump administration is set to sell oil and gas leasing rights in the refuge s coastal plain, a biodiversity hotspot of critical importance to the Gwich in people and dubbed America s Serengeti.
Bids were submitted by the end of 2020. It s not clear, however, which oil or gas companies, if any, sought leases.
The Bureau of Land Management has “received interest” in leases, the Anchorage Daily News reported. That interest may have come solely from the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which voted unanimously last month to spend as much as $20 million on the leases. “It s a way for the state to make sure the land is set aside for oil development in case no one else bids on the leases,” as Alaska Public put it.