Biden Makes Last-Minute Bid to Thwart Arctic Oil Drilling

Interior proposes new protected areas in Alaska oil reserve
Effort provides legal fodder if Trump tries to reverse

Joe Biden
Photographer: Leigh Vogel/UPI/Bloomberg

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By Jennifer A Dlouhy

January 16, 2025 at 9:00 PM UTC

Updated on

January 17, 2025 at 12:39 AM UTC

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The Biden administration advanced a plan to limit oil drilling and infrastructure across more of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, a bid to lock in land protections and conservation requirements days before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The Interior Department move Thursday represents the latest step by outgoing President Joe Biden to enshrine protections that could complicate Trump plans to rapidly expand oil and gas development across US federal lands and waters. In recent weeks, Biden also has designated new national monuments and ruled out the sale of drilling rights in more than 625 million acres of US coastal waters.