Trump finalizes drilling plan for iconic Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

The Trump administration finalized plans Monday to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, a move that will auction off oil and gas rights in the heart of one of the nation’s most iconic wild places.

The move will allow leasing on the 1.6 million-acre coastal plain, the center of a nearly pristine wilderness home to migrating caribou and waterfowl as well as polar bears and foxes who live there year round. It marks a major step towards reviving fossil fuel development in an area that has been untouched for three decades.

In a statement, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said that his department was following through on the 2017 budget bill that instructed the federal government to conduct oil and gas leasing on the refuge.

“Our program meets the legal mandate that Coastal Plain leaseholders get the necessary rights-of-way, easements and land areas for production and support facilities they need to find and develop these important Arctic oil and gas resources,” he said.

-snip-

By Juliet Eilperin
8/17/2020, 9:19:46 a.m.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/08/17/trump-drilling-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-alaska/

[SheltieLover]

1. K&R!

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[Linda Ed]

17. That's not all ..another one for the headlines

First the Russians, now the Iranians.

US intelligence indicates Iran paid bounties to Taliban for targeting American troops in Afghanistan
impeached trump’s cowardly failure to say anything to Putin about paying bounties to kill American troops now means he can’t confront Iran either.


What a gutless coward he is..Embarrassing America with jis weakness, every day.



https://cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/iran-taliban-bounties-us-intelligence/index.html

[groundloop]

2. EVERY TIME GOPers rule there is more and more irreparable harm that will never be undone

[machI]

3. What could go wrong?

[MFGsunny]

4. K & R for visibility - SCOUNDRELS Should be on front page of EVERY media source! n/t

[JudyM]

5. +1

[turbinetree]

6. Lets see oil is sitting at new lows, OPEC and the Russians are fighting.............about the price

planes are sitting on the ground, people still can't go anywhere, we are barred from going into any countries because the doofus, and then there is the pin head weekend golfer brother succumbs to what I think is COVID19 and he goes and have a thumbs up moment with his bud Jay Feely, the oil shale drilling in this country is falling into bankruptcy mode, and then they have this...............deflection .............and finally the arctic shelf is disappearing some more and the air base that was built on the once frozen tundra is sinking and costing the taxpayers more money to repair, because it holds nuclear missiles............

[hibbing]

7. We will NEVER recover from the damage done

I know the whole country is going to hell, but the gutting of all these environmental regulations is going to take decades of very hard work to put back in place.

Peace

[Bayard]

8. Hate him

Hate him, hate him, HATE HIM!!

Can't get past the paywall, but when is this supposed to start happening? Will it not start until after January? Can the rights be canceled?

[Lonestarblue]

9. One of the first things a President Biden needs to reverse.

Alaska depends a lot on oil and tourism. Its glaciers are melting from temperature increases caused by climate change, which is exacerbated by fossil fuels. One would think that Alaskans might look ahead and think about the way the world is changing. Much of the world is moving to electric cars and alternative energy, decreasing the need for fossil fuels in the future. So when the Alaskan pipeline has despoiled its once pristine wilderness, the glaciers have melted, the polar bears are extinct, and there isn’t much tourism left as a result, what will Alaska have? That future may be 10 years away or 20 years, but continuing to think that fossil fuels will provide economic security seems short sighted.

[Lulu KC]

11. + 1,000 n/t

[Submariner]

12. Biden should announce this week at the convention

that upon inauguration I will reverse all of Trumps ANWR initiative, so don’t even bother bidding or even thinking of drilling in ANWR EVER. If those RWNJ Alaskans whine, let them.

[IronLionZion]

10. If they find efficiencies by spilling a little oil here and there,

liberals will be told to stop whining like little snowflakes.

[CaptYossarian]

13. If we're so desperate for oil,

let's use whatever crap Donnie Jr. puts in his hair.

[riversedge]

14. all #Republicans who follow Trump on this should be ashamed of themselves!!

[Initech]

15. It's like he tries to find ways to piss people off!

[Raine]

16. It certainly seems that way

he seems to really thrive on controversy and pissing people off!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

18. 😭😭😭

I just can’t take the destruction of nature any more. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 as long as population continues to expand, we’ll never be free of this destruction.