Alaska Opens for Drilling

Story Courtesy of Paradigm Pressrooms Bullets ~

On Monday, top Trump officials announced a sweeping plan, setting the stage for a dramatic expansion of oil and gas drilling in some of the nation’s untouched landscapes.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, joined by leaders from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, unveiled the proposal during a high-profile visit to Alaska’s North Slope, signaling a renewed drive to unleash the state’s vast energy resources.

The move specifically targets the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), a 23-million-acre expanse about 600 miles north of Anchorage, bounded by the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

Originally established in the early 20th century as a strategic fuel reserve for the U.S. Navy, the NPR-A now stands as the largest single tract of public land in the country, home to grizzly and polar bears, caribou and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.

In 1976, Congress authorized commercial development of the reserve but mandated a careful balance between energy extraction and conservation

Last year, the Biden administration imposed sweeping restrictions on oil and gas development across more than half of the NPR-A, designating 13 million acres as “Special Areas” off limits to leasing unless operators could prove minimal or no adverse effects on surface resources.

Secretary Burgum argues, however, that Team Biden “prioritiz[ed] obstruction over…