The Bureau of Land Management opened more than 80% of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas drilling. The plan strips more than 18 million acres of the 24-million-acre wilderness of protection, including habitat vital to ice seals, polar bears, and migratory birds already under siege from climate change. By Trump administration standards, this is a boffo move: It favors the fossil fuel industry over conservation, ignores climate change, hurts people of color — Alaska Natives whose food security depends on hunting wildlife in areas now open to drilling — and overturns the Obama-era 2013 management plan that protected about 10 million acres, or just under 50% of the reserve. In 1976, Congress ordered the BLM to manage the NPR-A equally for conservation and development. Status: Finalized. The BLM released its completed plan for the NPR-A on June 25, 2020.
