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   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   The Trump administration said Nov. 13 that it has finalized a rule   
   rescinding Biden-era restrictions on oil and gas drilling in Alaska as   
   part of efforts to strengthen U.S. energy security.   
      
   The new rule, to be published in the Federal Register on Nov. 17, will   
   revoke the measures imposed by the Biden administration that restricted   
   drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve on the North Slope, according   
   to the Interior Department (DOI).   
      
   The petroleum reserve in Alaska, spanning roughly 23 million acres, was   
   designated in 1923. Last year, the Biden administration restricted oil   
   and gas drilling on over 13 million acres of the area for environmental   
   reasons.   
      
   The DOI stated that it aims to restore drilling in the area to   
   strengthen energy supply and reduce U.S. reliance on foreign sources,   
   following President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order that called   
   for the expansion of natural resource development across federal and   
   state lands in Alaska.   
      
   “By rescinding the 2024 rule, we are following the direction set by   
   President Trump to unlock Alaska’s energy potential, create jobs for   
   North Slope communities and strengthen American energy security,”   
   Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in a Nov. 13 statement.   
      
   “This action restores common-sense management and ensures responsible   
   development benefits both Alaska and the nation.”   
      
   Voice of the Arctic Inupiat, a nonprofit representing North Slope   
   communities in Alaska, said it supports the move, noting that it would   
   help sustain power generation, education, and other services that rely   
   on tax revenue from resource development infrastructure.   
      
   North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Patkotak also voiced support, calling   
   the move a “meaningful step toward restoring a federal process” that   
   respects local leadership in Alaska.   
      
   “Good policy comes from good process, which requires hearing directly   
   from the people who live, work, and hunt here,” Patkotak said in a   
   statement issued by the nonprofit.   
      
   The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) opposed the move, claiming   
   the DOI’s new rule disregards its obligation to protect the reserve.   
      
   “This rollback is nothing more than a giveaway to the oil and gas   
   industry,” Bobby McEnaney, NRDC director of land conservation, said in a   
   statement. “Weakening protections is reckless, and it threatens to erase   
   the very landscapes Congress sought to safeguard.”   
      
   This is not the first such Biden-era restriction that Trump has rolled   
   back. Last month, the DOI announced that it would reopen the coastal   
   plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing   
   and reissued permits for the 211-mile Ambler Road Project, which would   
   allow access to cooper and cobalt deposits in the area.   
      
   https://amac.us/newsline/economy/trump-admin-rolls-back-biden-era-restric   
   tions-on-alaska-oil-and-gas-drilling/   
      
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