Trump Administration to Approve Oil Drilling in Alaskan Refuge
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Trump administration is planning to approve an oil leasing program for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). It would allow oil companies to lease land and explore for oil on parts of the 19-million-acre refuge. Lease auctions could occur as soon as the end of this year.
Oil companies and Alaskan leaders have been working on opening up ANWR for oil exploration for more than 30 years. While environmentalists have long raised concerns about how drilling would impact the wildlife that lives on the refuge, Congress mandated an oil leasing program as part of the tax overhaul in 2017. It gave the Department of the Interior until December of 2021 to sell oil leases. By authorizing the program this year, it would be hard for an incoming administration to unravel.
The Interior Department estimates that oil companies would use about 0.01% of ANWR's surface area for roads, drilling pads, and processing plants to support production.
Source Fool.com
