Biden Administration Protects Special Areas in the Western Arctic

WASHINGTON – Today, the Biden administration announced that the Department of the Interior will retain protections for 28 million acres of public lands in Alaska.

With this announcement, Interior is undoing the Trump Administration’s unlawful, eleventh-hour rollback of critical safeguards without proper Tribal consultation or legal compliance. By undertaking a robust public process to arrive at this decision, the Biden Administration ensured that voices from Alaska Native and local communities were heard, and that important lands, waters, and wildlife in are protected from dangerous mining and drilling.

This comes at a vital time for America’s Arctic and on the heels of other important decisions from the Biden-Harris Administration. The Arctic is on the front line of climate change, warming four times faster than the rest of the planet as threats from oil and gas are growing. Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that it was affirming protections for more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). These protected landscapes are known as Special Areas, designated places that have significant ecological significance – including Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok Uplands, Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon, and Peard Bay.

“These protections are crucial to saving a priceless ecosystem,” said Nicole Ghio, Fossil Fuel and Lands Program Manager at Friends of the Earth Action. “We are thrilled that the Biden-Harris administration listened to the voices of Alaska Native Tribes and impacted communities and made the right choice for species and the climate”

Communications contact: Shaye Skiff, [email protected]