Biden bars drilling over vast swath of Alaska
US President Joe Biden's administration announced on Wednesday it is banning new oil and gas drilling over a vast region of Alaska home to iconic animal species. The move comes a little over a year before the 2024 election, as Biden seeks to shore up his green credentials that were damaged by a decision earlier this year to greenlight a project by US energy giant ConocoPhillips in the same area. The prohibition covers 10.6 million acres, or 40 percent, of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), an ecologically important region for grizzly and polar bears, caribou and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. "Alaska is home to many of America's most breathtaking natural wonders and culturally significant areas," Biden said in a statement. "As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, we have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages." The US Interior Department said it is also cancelling seven remaining oil and gas leases that were authorised under former president Donald Trump in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which lies to the east of the NPR-A, also on Alaska's North Slope. The state's two Republican senators blasted the White House, saying Biden was undermining US energy security. "These decisions are illegal, reckless [and] defy all common sense," said Senator Lisa Murkowski. While the Biden plan said it would support the subsistence activities of Alaska Natives, it was met with opposition by prominent members of the North Slope communities. "Our community fought hard to get the Coastal Plain opened to oil and gas leasing," said Annie Tikluk, mayor of the city of Kaktovik, referring to the cancelled leases. "We are an economically underserved community and are continually looking for economic opportunities for our long-term sustainability." (AFP)