Biden to cancel Trump’s oil drilling leases in Alaskan refuge

President Joe Biden’s Interior Department on Wednesday will cancel oil drilling leases that the Trump administration sold in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to two people knowledge of the plan.

The move — the latest step in decades of political jousting over the Arctic refuge — could help assuage environmentalists’ anger at the White House for approving ConocoPhillips’ massive Willow oil project earlier this year in another stretch of northern Alaska.

But it comes at a risky time for Biden, with a surge crude oil prices in the past week threatening to drive up the cost of gasoline. And it will almost surely meet resistance from the oil industry and powerful Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a key vote that the administration has taken pains to court.

The Interior Department will also pledge no new leasing for oil development on 10 million acres in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, an area to the west of ANWR that has long been home to oil and gas drilling, according to the sources.

Former President Donald Trump had bragged about his success in opening ANWR to oil production after decades of political fighting over the resources locked under the tundra there. But oil industry interest in drilling for Alaska has waned over the years as companies turned to cheaper and more accessible oil in Texas, New Mexico and other states.

The lease sale held by the Trump Interior Department was seen as a flop, drawing only $14.4 million in bids from two companies and the Alaskan state oil development company.