US holds oil, gas lease sale for Alaska refuge

JUNEAU, Alaska — The U.S. government held its first-ever oil and gas lease sale Wednesday for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an event critics labeled as a bust with major oil companies staying on the sidelines and a state corporation emerging as the main bidder.

The sale, held as scheduled after a judge Tuesday rejected requests by Indigenous and conservation groups to halt the event, garnered bids on half the tracts that were listed as available in the refuge’s coastal plain.

The rugged remote area off the Beaufort Sea is considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in. Critics of the lease sale say the region is special, providing habitat for wildlife including caribou, polar and grizzly bears, wolves and birds, and should be off limits to drilling.

Supporters of drilling have viewed development as a way to bolster oil production, generate revenue and create or sustain jobs.

A state corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, was the main bidder on the leases. Its executive director, Alan Weitzner, in a statement, said in acquiring nine tracts, “Alaska preserves the right to responsibly develop its natural resources.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy called the lease sale “historic for Alaska and tremendous for America.”

“Alaskans have waited two generations for this moment; I stand with them in support of this day,” he said.

Kate MacGregor, a deputy Interior Department secretary, said the sale marked, in part, the Trump administration’s commitment to working “to fulfill the goal of U.S. energy security for decades to come.”

It was not clear heading into the sale what level of interest there would be among companies. A number of banks had announced plans to stop lending to projects in the Arctic, and President-elect Joe Biden has expressed opposition to drilling in the refuge.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason has yet to rule on lawsuits challenging the adequacy of the environmental review process undertaken by the government.