Double-Whammy Friday!  Biden Kills Two Alaska Resource Opportunities

April 19, 2024

Leave it to President Biden to ruin the collective weekends of 725,000 Alaskans looking to enjoy a bright future in the Great Land.

This morning, his Department of Interior and its Bureau of Land Management announced actions that – if allowed to stand – will cost thousands of Alaskans new job opportunities, and state and local governments tens of millions in tax and royalty revenues.

Between finalizing Interior’s September, 2023 declaration that more than 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska would be off-limits to future development, and overriding Congressional approval of the Ambler Access Project and declaring the road unable to be built, Team Biden’s double-whammy was crushing.

Environmental groups, who have been critical and vocal about Biden’s lack of action on “protecting” the Arctic from future development, were overjoyed.  On the other side, reaction from pro-responsible development advocates across the state was swift, with lawmakers, trade associations and Native groups all decrying the announcements.

This makes 63 administrative or executive actions taken by the Biden administration to thwart resource projects since January, 2021.  That’s one decision to harm jobs, revenues and opportunities every 20 days; an infamous legacy of this administration that will reverberate throughout Alaska for decades to come.