The Biden administration suspended oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on June 1, ahead of the outcome of an environmental impact review, reversing a policy that former President Donald Trump had initiated shortly before leaving office. President Joe Biden, on his first day in office in January, placed a temporary ban on the wildlife refuge’s new leases. But on June 1, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland issued a memo (pdf) saying that activities in the region must halt pending an analysis. …Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy described the move as an “assault on Alaska’s economy” that is tantamount to “federal overreach.”
“Shutting down our lands was not what William Seward intended when Alaska was founded, and we are not going to allow the Biden administration to turn Alaska into a giant national park,” he said, referring to Seward, the U.S. secretary of state between 1861 and 1869, who negotiated the Alaska purchase in 1868.