The Biden administration plans to offer hundreds of thousands of acres off the coast of Alaska for new oil and gas drilling next month
The Biden administration plans to offer hundreds of thousands of acres off the coast of Alaska for new oil and gas drilling next month, a sale mandated in the Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act to win the support of holdout West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. Can go
The auction of more than 958,000 acres in Alaska's Cook Inlet next month, announced Monday by the Interior Department, could produce nearly 200 million barrels of crude and 300 billion cubic feet of natural gas over the life of the lease sale, according to department estimates. Can do Although it is debatable whether any drilling will actually take place.
The lease sale, to be held on December 30, was one of a number of previously scrapped proposals reinstated in the Democrats' climate spending bill signed into law in August, and was considered a linchpin for winning Manchin's support. The Biden administration announced that it had canceled the Cook Inlet sale in May prior to the enactment of the law, citing a lack of interest.
Still, news of the sale, which includes federal waters stretching from Culagin Island in the north to Augustine Island in the south, sparked an outcry from environmental groups, such as the Center for Biological Diversity. The non-profit organization has said the activity will harm the world's most endangered whale population - the Cook Inlet beluga - as well as other species.
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