The Trump administration has created an opportunity to extract oil and gas for the first time in history at the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), writes BBC. ANWR is home to a number of special species and is often referred to as the last true wildlife in the United States.
The coastal area affected by potential oil mining is extremely important for polar bears and Grant Caribou.
There has been a debate for decades among oil companies, often backed by the government, as well as environmentalists and indigenous peoples, over whether the ANWR oilfields should be exploited. The Trump administration raised the possibility of mining early in 2017, and the US Bureau of Agriculture recently began selling drilling rights to 22 plots of land. The affected area is approximately 4,046 sq km, and the lease term is ten years.
Preservation groups have taken to court to no avail, so far the process has not stopped. It is true that the activists promised to continue the struggle to preserve ANWR.
There is not much interest in the mining option yet: although there may be a lot of oil in the area, there is virtually no infrastructure in the area, and the construction will not only be costly but also time consuming. Several major US banks have also announced that they will not provide support to take advantage of the region. It is easy to imagine that the Biden administration would bring about a major change in the situation in the region.
