WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden’s administration will suspend leases for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge pending a review of their environmental impacts, the U.S. Interior Department said on Tuesday.
The action reverses one of former President Donald Trump’s signature efforts to expand fossil fuel and mineral development in the United States.
During his campaign, Biden pledged to protect the 19.6 million-acre habitat for polar bears, caribou and migratory birds.
“President Biden believes America’s national treasures are cultural and economic cornerstones of our country and he is grateful for the prompt action by the Department of the Interior to suspend all leasing pending a review of decisions made in the last administration’s final days that could have changed the character of this special place forever,” White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy said in a statement.
Alaska-based green groups, which had sued to stop the lease sale, cheered the move.
The first sale of tracts in the refuge, held two weeks before Trump left office in January, received limited interest from the oil and gas industry and generated high bids of just $14.4 million.
The entities that won the leases were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Alistair Bell)
