The Big Story 

The Biden administration is restricting drilling on millions of acres of government-owned lands in Alaska — and taking the penultimate step toward blocking a mining access road in the same state.

© AP

The administration announced Friday it would block off oil and gas drilling on 13 million acres in the Western Arctic that are part of an area known as the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

The 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve, found in Alaska’s North Slope, was set aside in 1923 by President Harding as an emergency supply of oil for the Navy.

The area is also home to caribou herds, threatened and sensitive bird species, and other animals, including polar bears.

The administration also issued a document indicating that it would not approve a proposed industrial road through northwestern Alaskan wilderness toward deposits of copper and zinc — disrupting Ambler Metals’s effort to mine there.

The administration cited its finding that the road would significantly restrict activities for more than 30 Alaska Native communities. The Hill previously reported that the Biden administration had reached this decision Tuesday. 

Read more at TheHill.com.

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.

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