The Interior Department is holding its first lease sale under President Donald Trump’s second term in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, selling off tracts of land for potential drilling in an area that has been virtually untouched by the oil and gas industry.Better known as ANWR, the remote refuge sits more than 600 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, bordering Canada. It is widely considered one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, with undisturbed ecosystems and habitats of caribou, polar bears, and hundreds of species of birds stretching nearly 20 million acres. There are no established roads, trails, or facilities of any type within the refuge, and only two permanent villages whose native communities have survived off the land for thousands of years.Environmentalists, climate activists, and some native groups have for years sought to stop fossil fuel development in the area, for fear of harm to the surrounding wildlife and ecosystems. However, residents of the sole village in the northernmost part of the refuge are welcoming potential drilling projects with open arms to support their own economic growth.
On Friday, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management was set to hold an oil and gas lease sale bid opening for tracts of land in the Coastal Plain of the wildlife refuge, also known as the 1002 area. The area stretches across 1.56 million acres, and at least 400,000 acres were to be made available.
