Department of Interior shuts down millions of acres of Alaska to all oil, gas and mining activity
The Interior Department last Friday blocked 28 million acres of federal land in the state of Alaska from any mining or oil and gas development.
Rick Whitbeck, Alaska state director for Power The Future, said the decision on D-1 lands removes an area the size of the state of Pennsylvania from resource development, which will have severe energy impact to the nation and the state of Alaska.
“Today’s double-whammy attack on Alaska’s resource development opportunities makes 65 times the Biden administration has targeted our state’s energy and economic future. This administration has completely kowtowed to radical environmentalists in an effort to gain favor at the ballot box. Placing 28 million acres off-limits to responsible development is foolhardy, and only empowers China, Russia and other enemies of our Republic,” Whitbeck told Just the News.
In a separate decision, the department also blocked a 211-mile gravel road that would have connected mining districts in west-central Alaska to a highway that runs through the middle of the state. The mines are rich in copper and cobalt needed for the so-called green energy transition.