Great News: from the New York Times:
The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended oil drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, unspooling a signature achievement of the Trump presidency and delivering on a promise by President Biden to protect the fragile Alaskan tundra from fossil fuel extraction.
The decision sets up a process that could halt drilling in one of the largest tracts of untouched wilderness in the United States, home to migrating waterfowl, caribou and polar bears. But it also lies over as much as 11 billion barrels of oil and Democrats and Republicans have fought over whether to allow drilling there for more than four decades.
A formal order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland paused the leases until her agency has completed an environmental analysis of their impact and a legal review of the Trump administration’s decision to grant them.
If humans have hope of surviving our devastation of the natural world, then carbon fuels need to stay in the ground. The Biden administration just took one small but crucial step in that direction. Hooray!
For background on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Trump administration, see my diary here: www.dailykos.com/...
Oops, now I see the staff at DKOS beat me to it. See Walter Einenkel’s story here: www.dailykos.com/...