Latest news with #gasdrilling
The Independent
7 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Environmentalists criticize Trump administration push for new oil and gas drilling in Alaska
Top Trump administration officials — fresh off touring one of the country's largest oil fields in the Alaska Arctic — headlined an energy conference led by the state's Republican governor on Tuesday that environmentalists criticized as promoting new oil and gas drilling and turning away from the climate crisis. Several dozen protesters were outside Gov. Mike Dunleavy 's annual Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage, where U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin were featured speakers. The federal officials were continuing a multiday trip aimed at highlighting President Donald Trump's push to expand oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state. The trip has included meetings with pro-drilling groups and officials, including some Alaska Native leaders on the petroleum-rich North Slope, and a visit to the Prudhoe Bay oil field near the Arctic Ocean that featured selfies near the 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Calls for additional oil and gas drilling — including Trump's renewed focus on getting a massive liquefied natural gas project built — are 'false solutions' to energy needs and climate concerns, protester Sarah Furman said outside the Anchorage convention hall, as people carried signs with slogans such as 'Alaska is Not for Sale' and 'Protect our Public Lands.' "We find it really disingenuous that they're hosting this conference and not talking about real solutions,' she said. Topics at the conference, which runs through Thursday, also include mining, carbon management, nuclear energy, renewables and hydrogen. Oil has been Alaska's economic lifeblood for decades, and Dunleavy has continued to embrace fossil fuels even as he has touted other energy opportunities in the state. Another protester, Rochelle Adams, who is Gwich'in, raised concerns about the ongoing push to allow oil and gas drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Gwich'in leaders have said they consider the coastal plain sacred, as caribou they rely on calve there. Leaders of the Iñupiaq community of Kaktovik, which is within the refuge, support drilling as economically vital and have joined Alaska political leaders in welcoming Trump's interest in reviving a leasing program there. 'When these people come from outside to take and take and take, we are going to be left with the aftereffects,' Adams said, adding later: 'It's our health that will be impacted. It's our wellness, our ways of life.' Zeldin, during a friendly question-and-answer period led by Dunleavy, said wildlife he saw while on the North Slope didn't appear 'to be victims of their surroundings' and seemed 'happy.' Burgum, addressing a move toward additional drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, said wildlife and development can coexist. His agency during the Alaska trip announced plans to repeal Biden-era restrictions on future leasing and industrial development in portions of the petroleum preserve that are designated as special for their wildlife, subsistence or other values. Wright bristled at the idea of policy "in the name of climate change' that he said would have no impact on climate change. Stopping oil production in Alaska doesn't change demand for oil, he said. 'You know, we hear terms like clean energy and renewable energy. These are inaccurate marketing terms,' he said. 'There is no energy source that does not take significant materials, land and impact on the environment to produce. Zero.' Officials court Asian countries to support gas project Joining for part of the U.S. officials' trip were representatives from Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan and United Arab Emirates. Asian countries are being courted to sign onto the Alaska gas project, which has floundered for years to gain traction amid cost and other concerns. The project, as proposed, would include a nearly 810-mile (1,300-kilometer) pipeline that would funnel gas from the North Slope to port, with an eye largely on exports of liquefied natural gas. Wright told reporters a goal in inviting them to the Prudhoe Bay stop was for them to see the oil pipeline infrastructure and environment and meet with residents and business leaders. Glenfarne Alaska LNG LLC, which has taken a lead in advancing the project, on Tuesday announced expressions of interest from a number of 'potential partners." Costs surrounding the project — which have been pegged around $44 billion for the pipeline and other infrastructure — are in the process of being refined before a decision is made on whether to move forward. ___ Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.
E&E News
02-06-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Interior to reverse Biden ban on drilling in Alaska
The Trump administration announced Monday it is moving ahead with plans to reopen millions of acres of undisturbed public land to oil and gas drilling, amid a visit by top officials to Alaska this week. The Bureau of Land Management will issue a proposed rescission of a Biden-era rule that banned drilling on nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), reverting to regulations in place prior to May 7, 2024. 'Congress was clear: the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska was set aside to support America's energy security through responsible development,' Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. 'The 2024 rule ignored that mandate, prioritizing obstruction over production and undermining our ability to harness domestic resources at a time when American energy independence has never been more critical.' Advertisement The proposed change, which will be published in the Federal Register, will trigger a 60-day comment period. Reverting to previous regulations would open up 11 million acres to drilling as well as removing conditions — such as considering Indigenous knowledge and solidifying protections for sensitive ecological areas — on oil and gas leases in the reserve. The Interior Department said it had completed 'a thorough legal and policy review' following the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs' announcement last week that it had completed its own analysis. Burgum, who visited Alaska with Energy Secretary Chris Wright and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, repeatedly slammed the Biden-era regulations during a Sunday forum that also included Republican Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan. 'The job the three of us have at the federal level is to unwind the 70 — I'll call them sanctions —the 70 EOs that restricted Alaska,' Burgum said, referring to Wright and Zeldin. He later added: 'Alaska was getting sanctioned more than Iran in the last four years.' Burgum also criticized proponents of environmental protections in the state for attempting to 'treat Alaska like a snow globe.' 'Do they want to save the environment or are some of those people just trying to restrict our ability to be competitive?' he said. In the statement announcing BLM's decision and the looming Federal Register notice, Burgum pointed to the Trump administration's push to increase oil and gas extraction on public lands. That includes Burgum's own order to grow fossil fuel production. Burgum also appeared on Fox News with Wright. Burgum cited the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and NPR-A as 'two areas that President [Donald] Trump has set free for development.' The announcement drew criticism from environmentalists, who argued the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act that created the area is intended for both conservation and energy production. 'Everyone who cares about public lands and is concerned about the climate crisis should be outraged by this move to exploit America's public lands for the benefit of corporations and the president's wealthy donors,' said Matt Jackson, the Wilderness Society's Alaska senior manager. 'Worst of all, this move will accelerate the climate crisis at a time when the ground beneath Alaska communities is literally melting away and subsistence foods are in decline.'
Washington Post
02-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Trump officials visit key operations at prolific Alaska oil field amid push to expand drilling
DEADHORSE, Alaska — Three Trump Cabinet members began a tour at a key point of operations at a prolific oil field near the Arctic Ocean in Alaska on Monday, part of a multiday trip aimed at highlighting President Donald Trump's push to expand oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state.
E&E News
30-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Interior moves closer to allowing drilling in Alaskan reserve
The Trump administration took steps this week toward reopening the country's largest tract of largely undisturbed public land to oil and gas drilling. The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs completed its review on Wednesday of a draft rule to rescind a Biden-era regulation that banned drilling on nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The draft rule now returns to the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, which would need to publish the proposal in the Federal Register and take public comment before finalizing. BLM said in a statement to POLITICO's E&E News that it plans to pursue removal of the Biden-era rule, but it did not provide a timeline. The Office of Management and Budget, which houses OIRA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Advertisement The move comes amid the Trump administration's aggressive push to increase oil and gas activity on U.S. lands. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered agencies to encourage fossil fuel production to 'unleash' American energy, and the administration has also drastically cut environmental review timelines for energy projects.
