In a move certain to increase prices across the board and heighten America's energy dependence on foreign sources, the Biden administration will suspend oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will publish a secretarial order formally rescinding the leases, which were issued during Trump’s final days as president, according to sources familiar with the matter, per the New York Times.
The move comes after Biden’s executive order, on his first day as president, to place a moratorium on new Arctic drilling.
“This is not unexpected. Since the Carter administration, whether ANWR can be leased is determined by which party is in the White House, Marcelle Burke, an energy policy lawyer who served in the Interior Department under Trump, said.
“Developers in ANWR assume there will be a policy shift between Democrat and Republican administrations. But it’s not permanent, assuming there will someday be another party in the White House.”
To no surprise, Arctic tribal leaders praised the move.
“Since we started this effort, we have always been told to work in a good way and if we do, good things will come. We are seeing proof of that today,” Tonya Garnett, a special projects coordinator for the Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, said in a statement.
“I want to thank President Biden and the Interior Department for recognizing the wrongs committed against our people by the last Administration, and for putting us on the right path forward. This goes to show that, no matter the odds, the voices of our Tribes matter,” she added.
However, this will undoubtedly send prices through the roof, as the country will be forced to further rely on foreign sources for energy.
Another prime example of not America first, America last.
