USA: Biden Stops Drilling In Alaska Allowed By Trump

Joe Biden has decided to revoke several oil drilling licenses in Alaska. The goal is to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a conservation area in northeast Alaska. This is an area of 52 thousand square kilometers, considered one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and inhabited by polar bears and Arctic caribou reindeer. This territory is also considered sacred by the Kutchin Indian group.

“As the climate crisis warms the Arctic more than twice as fast than the rest of the world, we carry a responsibility to protect this precious region,” the US president explained in a statement.

The decision was criticized by Alaska Republican Senator Dan Sullivan given the loss of revenue and jobs that would be caused by this decision. It was Donald Trump who, in the final days of his presidency, granted seven oil and gas licenses in the area. The measure would also affect 13,000 square kilometers of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, the largest public wilderness area in the USA.