Joe Biden freezes Trump-era oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic wildlife refuge

The Biden administration has suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing one of Donald Trump’s most significant environmental acts in his final days in office.

The Interior Department said it would halt the leases pending a review of their environmental impacts, reviving a politically charged debate over the pristine, 19-million-acre refuge.

Republicans and Democrats have fought over whether to allow drilling in the refuge - home to thousands of migratory birds, caribou and a dwindling number of polar bears - for more than four decades.

Mr Trump auctioned off the right to drill on 1.6 million acres of the reserve in January, just two weeks before he quit the White House.

The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it would block those leases, citing problems with a legally required environmental review, while a more comprehensive analysis was conducted.

The move fulfils a campaign pledge by Joe Biden to protect the reserve, an expanse of wilderness that has long been a rallying cry for environmental activists.

It also offers Mr Biden an opportunity to bolster his environmental credentials after angering activists with his recent support of oil drilling in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve and other fossil fuel projects.

Just last week, the administration defended the Trump-era drilling project in the petroleum reserve, which is estimated to produce around 590 million barrels of oil over 30 years.

That decision was praised by Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, a key Republican ally for Mr Biden in the 50-50 split senate, but fiercely criticised by environmentalists.

The timing of the announcement to freeze leases on another stretch of Alaskan wilderness may have been designed to appease Mr Biden’s critics.

It also indicates a degree of pragmatism in the administration’s approach to meeting its commitment to slow the use of fossil fuels.

While the federal government had invested considerable resources in defending the multi-billion dollar drilling project in the petroleum reserve, Mr Trump’s sale of leases in the refuge had failed to generate the projected revenues.

The low price of oil, coupled with the high cost of drilling and the risk of a public backlash meant the major oil companies opted not to bid for the leases.

Most of the leases were won by a state agency in Alaska, at the minimum price of $25 an acre, netting just $14.4 million in total.

The Alaska Wilderness League, which had joined other environmental groups in litigation against the Trump administration's development efforts, applauded the Biden administration's action.

"Suspending these leases is a step in the right direction," said Kristen Miller, acting executive director for the organisation.

The Gwich’in Nation, an indigenous group which lives near the wildlife refuge, also said it was “grateful and heartened” by the decision to protect “sacred lands and the Gwich’in way of life”.

However, the new environmental analysis does not guarantee that drilling will be blocked on the lease sites.

Harry Brower, the mayor of North Slope Borough, who represents the only community on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain, said cancelling these projects would hurt its residents.