U.S. should leave arctic refuge alone

The seemingly unending saga of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge took another turn this week when the Interior Department suspended oil drilling leases in one of the United States’ last untouched stretches of wilderness.

The refuge’s future is hardly certain: The Biden administration’s move could merely delay, rather than permanently bar, oil exploitation in the habitat. But there is no doubt about what the outcome should be: The case for drilling in this unique national treasure is weaker now than it has ever been.

In its final weeks, the Trump administration rushed through drilling leases in the area’s coastal plain, the zone that is “the most biologically productive part of the Arctic Refuge for wildlife and is the center of wildlife activity,” as a congressional study noted in 1987. The auction raised a mere $14.4 million, far less than boosters predicted. No major oil companies bid.

The government had to sell off most of the drilling rights for the $25-per-acre minimum. Alaska’s state-run oil agency was the main bidder. Part of oil companies’ reticence reflected the desire to avoid activist criticism for drilling in a location of extreme controversy. But practicalities also factored in: Oil prices have been low, and Arctic drilling is difficult.

Drilling advocates argue the area can be exploited with minimal disturbance to the landscape and the surprisingly large number of species that depend on it. But obtaining the refuge’s dispersed resources would probably require many wells across the coastal plain, plus pipelines, gravel pits and other facilities. As global warming heats the area, ice-based transportation will be less reliable, requiring road construction.

Meanwhile, the refuge’s remote and unspoiled character makes its environmental value particularly high. Caribou, polar bears, musk oxen and whales depend on the refuge, as do birds that travel there from across the planet. The area hosts 42 species of fish, 201 species of birds and 37 species of land mammals, including wolves, moose and grizzly bears.

Local tribes have for years protested development in and around its untouched rivers, mountains, valleys and coastline.

The Biden administration is allowing drilling to proceed under Trump-era leases in other zones along Alaska’s northern coast, and on public lands elsewhere around the country.

There is good reason for a moderate approach: The world economy will need oil for years to come, even with strong climate change policies in place. But it will not need every last drop still in the ground, unless humanity decides to fry the planet. The United States and the world can afford to leave this stretch of wilderness alone.