Oil drillers shrug off Trump's U.S. Arctic wildlife refuge auction

By Nichola Groom and Yereth Rosen

 

FILE PHOTO: A polar bear keeps close to her young along the Beaufort Sea coast in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska in a March 6, 2007 REUTERS/Susanne Miller/USFWS/handout

 

(Reuters) -The Trump administration on Wednesday found few takers at its sale of drilling leases in a pristine Arctic wildlife refuge, with an Alaska state agency emerging as the sole bidder for most of the acreage sold.

 

The sale, which generated around $14.4 million in high bids, marked a rejection by the oil and gas industry of one of President Donald Trump's signature efforts to expand fossil fuel and mineral development in the United States and to Alaska officials' decades-long effort to open up drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

 

Proceeds were a far cry from the Congressional Budget Office estimate from 2019 of $1.8 billion in bids from two ANWR lease sales over a decade. U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials called the sale "a success" while environmental groups labeled it an "epic failure."

 

It came two weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has pledged to protect the 19.6 million-acre habitat for polar bears, caribou and migratory birds and to ban new oil and gas leasing on federal lands.

 

On a day when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, the White House would not comment on the sale.

 

BLM said it received complete bids on half of the 22 tracts offered, and 50% of the acreage.

 

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority won nine tracts, while small independent companies, Knik Arm Services LLC and Regenerate Alaska Inc, won two. Alaska has said it hopes to partner with oil companies to develop the leases it won in the auction.

 

BLM officials would not speculate on why oil and gas companies declined to submit bids in the auction, which the Interior Department pushed for months to deliver before Trump leaves office.

 

"While it might not meet some of the targets that some folks think it should meet, it's still a successful sale," BLM Alaska State Director Chad Padgett said on a call with reporters.

 

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, who pushed for Congress to open up ANWR to oil and gas development as part of the 2017 tax bill, said in a statement the sale "did not occur under ideal conditions" but would benefit Alaskans "well into the future."

 

The American Petroleum Institute, the top U.S. oil and gas trade group, issued a statement citing weaker fuel demand during the coronavirus pandemic and potential federal policy changes for "continued uncertainty" surrounding investment decisions.

 

Environmental groups that have sued to block energy development in ANWR declared the sale a massive flop.

 

"This lease sale was an epic failure for the Trump administration and the Alaska congressional delegation," Adam Kolton, executive director of environmental group Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement.

 

Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson, in a statement also voiced "serious concerns" about the impact of possible oil and gas development on a herd of Porcupine caribou that roams northeastern Alaska and northwestern Canada.

 

Though the refuge's coastal plain is estimated to contain up to 11.8 billion barrels of oil, it has no roads, established trails, or other infrastructure - factors that likely kept interest from drilling companies to a minimum.

 

(Reporting by Nichola GroomEditing by Marguerita Choy, Lisa Shumaker, Richard Valdmanis and David Gregorio)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-07

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

we can hope that the next administration reverses any of these offers and preserves the refuge.

how many or few people here  know that the oil & gas industry, nr 1 profiteer machine in the world, on top gets billions of dollars in SUBSIDY ...

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=oil+%26+gas+industry%2C+nr+1+profiteer+machine+in+the+world%2C+on+top+gets+billions+of+dollars+in+SUBSIDY

 

but americans are against SOCIALISM, except when it fuels the pockets of the rich

8 hours ago, webfact said:

President-elect Joe Biden, who has pledged to protect the 19.6 million-acre habitat for polar bears, caribou and migratory birds and to ban new oil and gas leasing on federal lands.

Thank God the right person won the election .

2 hours ago, 1Gringo said:

we can hope that the next administration reverses any of these offers and preserves the refuge.

Biden can withdraw the offers but he can't reverse consumated sales unless such sales violated federal law, ie., lack or insufficient environmental review under due process of law - something Trump has little regard for.

2 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Biden can withdraw the offers but he can't reverse consumated sales unless such sales violated federal law, ie., lack or insufficient environmental review under due process of law - something Trump has little regard for.

Maybe he can buy back the land.

I suspect there will be future legal challenges to all this, including some that already are pending, from the sound of the OP article. There may also be some efforts on the part of the incoming administration to quash all this.

 

Given how fast and furious the BLM under Trump rushed forward these sales trying to beat him getting kicked out of office, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't shortcut or ignore required environmental/regulatory reviews along the way.

 

 

Wonder how the bidding would have gone had the deadline been before the election?

 

Or if the election had gone the other way?

 

6 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Biden can withdraw the offers but he can't reverse consumated sales unless such sales violated federal law, ie., lack or insufficient environmental review under due process of law - something Trump has little regard for.

If the lease sale goes through for a much lower price than it should be, then sale can be stopped.

39 minutes ago, impulse said:

Wonder how the bidding would have gone had the deadline been before the election?

 

Or if the election had gone the other way?

 

Please. Oil companies are writing down the values of the reserves they already have and many are investing heavily in renewables. It's no wonder that 9 out of the 12 tracts were purchased in effect by Alaska.

6 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Biden can withdraw the offers but he can't reverse consumated sales unless such sales violated federal law, ie., lack or insufficient environmental review under due process of law - something Trump has little regard for.

 

If they can boot Trump out of office right now using section 25 of the charter of rights and freedoms, which they really should do, perhaps many of his decisions can be reversed as it could be argued that he wasn't of sound mind  when making them. 

No money in it for now and a difficult place to drill and transport not worth the hassle thank god!