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The United States Government plans to authorize Arctic oil and gas extraction from Alaska before the end of the year. David Bernhardt, Secretary of the Interior, has revealed in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the Donald Trump Administration is adjusting the details to auction contracts for the extraction of hydrocarbons in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a region that has been protected. in the last 50 years and where important colonies of polar bears and reindeer inhabit.
The decision comes after the US Congress authorized in 2017, at Trump's request, oil activities in the refuge. Then, the legislators gave the Administration until December 2021 to assign the contracts. If the White House signs a pledge with some oil company, the possibility of reversing it will be difficult, even if the new president of the United States becomes the Democrat Joe Biden. Since 2017, various environmental groups have fought in court to prevent the arrival of oil companies to the Arctic, warning of the risks it poses to the environment.
The plan proposed by the US government indicates that oil extraction will be carried out mainly on the coast and in the northernmost part of the territory. The estimate is that there is an intervention of 0.01% in the reserve with the construction of the oil facilities, although the project does not yet contemplate conducting pipelines. "I have a remarkable degree of confidence that this can be done in a responsible, sustainable and environmentally friendly way," Bernhardt told The Wall Street Journal . However, the environmental plan recognizes that there is "a high potential risk" of polar bear deaths.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge covers an area of 7.7 million hectares and is located in the northeast of Alaska, in the north it borders the Arctic Ocean and in the east with the Canadian region of Yukon. It is the largest nature reserve in the United States and the most pristine. The territory is one of the main breeding centers for polar bears and reindeer. In 1960, it was declared a federal protected area by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and in 1980 President Jimmy Carter signed a law to ensure its protection. In 2016 and a few weeks after the end of his term, President Barack Obama banned the exploration of oil fields in the Arctic Ocean, given the threat that Trump would undertake energy activities in the region.
During his administration, Trump has promoted a strong energy agenda and has questioned climate change on several occasions. "We are going to look at it," the president said Monday morning in an interview on Fox News when he was questioned about the Interior Secretary's statements. The decision to undertake the exploitation of hydrocarbons in a nature reserve is extremely unpopular in the United States. In 2017, when it was discussed in Congress, a Yale University poll revealed that 70% of American voters, including Republicans, were opposed to the idea of allowing oil drilling in the Arctic. "Any oil company looking to drill in the Arctic Refuge will face enormous reputational, legal and financial risks," Adam Kolton, director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement.
A complex investment
While environmentalists warn that oil companies will have problems in court if they sign contracts with the US government, some banks have understood the refusal to intervene in the region. Institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan have announced that they will not finance oil projects in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. An intervention in a practically virgin territory implies a significant investment that has to be sustained over several years and, given the drop in oil prices in recent months, a complex outlook is expected. Last year the British BP announced that it was withdrawing from Alaska and put all its facilities in the state up for sale due to the drop in production in the region.