Trump Administration Aims to Open More Arctic Areas for Oil
- Zinke directive targets Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve
- Government also set to assess oil and gas in Arctic refuge
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) stands near Copperville, Alaska, U.S., on Tuesday, February 14, 2017.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergU.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke issued a directive aimed at spurring oil and natural gas development in Alaska, including a move to assess just how much crude might be lurking under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Zinke’s order, signed during a visit to Anchorage, also compels a rewrite of a 2013 plan that limited oil and natural gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The move responds to complaints from oil companies and state officials that the Obama administration was too restrictive, blocking drilling in promising areas while hampering their ability to build pipelines across the 23-million-acre reserve.