SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
alaska
Another Giveaway to Big Oil as Trump Wrenches Open 13 Million Acres of Arctic for Drilling
"The Trump administration is trying to take us back in time with its reckless fossil fuels agenda."
Nov 14, 2025
The Trump administration on Thursday killed Biden-era rules that protected around 13 million acres of the western Arctic from fossil fuel drilling, another giveaway to the industry that helped bankroll the president's campaign.
The decision by the US Interior Department, led by billionaire fossil fuel industry ally Doug Burgum, targets the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). Last year, the Biden administration finalized rules that shielded more than half of the 23-million-acre NPR-A from drilling.
Conservationists were quick to condemn the repeal of the rules as a move that prioritizes the profits of oil and gas corporations over wildlife, pristine land, and the climate.
Monica Scherer, senior director of campaigns at Alaska Wilderness League, ripped the administration for ignoring the hundreds of thousands of people who engaged in the public comment process and spoke out against the gutting of NPR-A protections.
“Today’s actions make one thing painfully clear: this administration never had any intention of listening to the American people," Scherer said Thursday. "By dismantling these protections, Interior isn’t ‘restoring common sense,’ it’s sidelining science and traditional knowledge, silencing communities, and putting irreplaceable lands and wildlife at risk."
Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe called the administration's weakening of Arctic protections "another example of how the Trump administration is trying to take us back in time with its reckless fossil fuels agenda."
"This would sweep aside common-sense regulations aimed at more responsibly managing the Western Arctic’s irreplaceable lands and wildlife for future generations," said Grafe. "It rewinds the clock to regulations last updated in 1977. This is no way to secure our future.”
"Where others see the most ecologically intact landscape in the United States, the Interior Department sees another American treasure poised for ruination."
Thursday's move came less than a month after the Trump administration announced plans to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. At the time, Burgum declared, "Alaska is open for business."
ConocoPhillips, the oil and gas giant behind the much-decried Willow project that the Biden administration approved in 2023, is among the possible beneficiaries of the Trump Interior Department's decision to roll back drilling protections in the western Arctic.
Inside Climate News reported earlier this week that ConocoPhillips "has applied to extend ice roads and well pads farther west into the Arctic wilderness beyond its Willow oil project."
"The company also wants to build roads to the south of Willow, where it would use heavy-duty equipment to thump the ground with seismic testing searching for crude," the outlet added.
Bobby McEnaney, director of land conservation at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Thursday that the Trump administration's latest attack on Arctic protections "is nothing more than a giveaway to the oil and gas industry."
"Weakening protections is reckless, and it threatens to erase the very landscapes Congress sought to safeguard," said McEnaney. "Where others see the most ecologically intact landscape in the United States, the Interior Department sees another American treasure poised for ruination.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Even During Shutdown, Senate GOP Does Big Oil's Bidding With Vote to Gut Arctic Protections
"This vote will authorize the fossil fuel industry's continued destruction of habitat and landscapes that are critical for wildlife to survive."
Oct 30, 2025
The Republican-controlled US Senate voted Thursday to scrap a Biden-era policy that protected millions of acres in the Alaskan Arctic from fossil fuel drilling, even as the government shutdown continued with no end in sight.
The final vote on the resolution, led by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), was 52-45, almost entirely along party lines. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to join Republicans in voting for the measure, which aims to use the Congressional Review Act to revoke a 2022 Biden administration decision protecting swaths of the Western Arctic.
The resolution still must pass the House, which is also controlled by Republicans.
Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, said the vote shows that President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are "exploiting" the prolonged shutdown to "hand over our public lands and wild places to corporate polluters."
"Donald Trump's government shutdown has dragged on for nearly five weeks, and what is the top priority for Congressional Republicans? Opening up the western Arctic to oil and gas drilling, not funding services or making sure our military is paid?" said Manuel. "It's shameful."
Robert Dewey, vice president of government relations at Defenders of Wildlife, warned that "this vote will authorize the fossil fuel industry's continued destruction of habitat and landscapes that are critical for wildlife to survive."
The Senate vote comes days after Trump's Interior Department, led by billionaire drilling enthusiast Doug Burgum, wrenched open all 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing.
Trump campaigned on a pledge to accelerate climate-destroying fossil fuel drilling and openly promised oil and gas executives that he would move swiftly to gut regulations in exchange for their financial support in the election.
One estimate released in the wake of the election found that oil and gas interests spent nearly $450 million to boost Trump and Republican candidates and bolster their legislative priorities on Capitol Hill.
Andy Moderow, senior director of policy at the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement that Thursday's vote "is yet another reminder that the Trump administration and its allies in Congress are prioritizing profits for oil executives and billionaires over the basic needs of hardworking Americans."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump's Delay of Funds, FEMA Staffing Cuts Hindered Alaska Flood Response
Trump waited nearly a week to deploy federal resources to help with flood rescue and recovery. One emergency management expert called it "absolutely insane."
Oct 27, 2025
A nearly weeklong funding delay by President Donald Trump, as well as cuts to federal weather forecasting personnel, likely exacerbated the devastation caused by the historic storm that hit Alaska earlier this month, a report from The Guardian revealed on Monday.
On October 12, the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, a remote area in southwestern Alaska which is home to about 20,000 Yup’ik Alaska Natives, was hit by one of the worst storms in its history—one that, Rick Thoman, a meteorologist and climate expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, explains was caused by a the remnants of a typhoon "likely fueled by the Pacific’s near-record warm surface temperatures this fall."
More than 2,000 people have now been forced to evacuate the region, with hundreds now taking shelter in a sports stadium on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus after being airlifted to safety by the Alaska National Guard. According to Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R), it could be more than 18 months before the survivors are able to return due to the severity of the damage.
On October 16, Dunleavy sent a request for Trump to issue a federal disaster declaration, which would free up around $25 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). That money would be used to clear debris, carry out protection and rescue operations, and shield roads, bridges, and other infrastructure from damage. It would also distribute funds to survivors of the storm to help them rebuild their homes and lives in the aftermath of the disaster.
"This incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments, and that supplementary federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster," the request said.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) wrote in a follow-up to Dunleavy's request the following day: "With winter fast approaching, and transportation and broadband connectivity limited, there is an urgent need for federal aid to repair housing, restore utilities, and secure heating fuel before severe winter conditions set in."
Trump would not approve the request until October 22—keeping the essential funding frozen for nearly a full week.
As the wait went on, Dr. Samantha Montano, a professor of emergency management at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, wrote on social media that the delay was "directly keeping funding out of the hands of disaster survivors who need it."
Still no declaration for Alaska. Absolutely insane.
[image or embed]
— Dr. Samantha Montano (@samlmontano.bsky.social) October 20, 2025 at 9:34 AM
“This disaster is of a severity that the request would have normally been signed within a day of receiving a governor’s request," Montano added. "Not doing so is a deeply alarming departure from what Americans have come to expect from the federal government in times of disaster."
It's not the first time this year that the Trump administration, which has announced its goal to "phase out" FEMA, has been met with scrutiny for a delayed disaster response.
When a flood devastated Texas this year, resulting in at least 138 deaths, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem waited for more than three days to authorize funds for the battered region, which delayed the critical work of search and rescue teams and aerial surveillance of the damage. The ability to warn residents was also reportedly hindered by the firing of National Weather Service (NWS) employees; meanwhile, the firing of FEMA contractors left thousands of phone calls from survivors unanswered.
According to The Guardian, Trump's cuts may have played a similar role in Alaska. As a result of mass layoffs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the agency was forced to adopt a state of "degraded operations," which included canceling weather balloon launches from many of its most remote offices, including in Alaska.
Thoman noted that many of the areas impacted by the storm had not seen any weather balloon tests for several days or even months, which may have resulted in the storm's path remaining unclear until less than a day and a half before it crossed into Alaskan waters, which he said was "too late for evacuations in many places.”
The lack of information would have made forecasting more difficult for meteorologists, who are already overloaded as a result of staffing cuts. The National Weather Service's Alaska region's 200-person workforce was slashed by over 10% earlier this year. One meteorologist, who requested anonymity, told The Guardian that “we are understaffed" and that it seems like there is more on all our plates with the staffing shortages.”
Thoman also said other cuts may have impacted the ability to warn residents about the impending storm. He noted that KYUK, the public radio station in the region’s largest town, had lost 70% of its funding last month when the Trump administration stripped funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Notably, Trump eventually signed off on disaster aid for Alaska and has done the same for other Republican-led states like Nebraska, North Dakota, and Missouri. However, without explanation, he has denied the same funding to blue states, including Maryland, Vermont, and Illinois, leading to accusations that he is politicizing disaster aid.
But Alaska, one of the front lines of the climate crisis, has hardly been spared. In addition to the beleaguered federal response, the administration also canceled a $20 million Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant in May that was intended to protect the Alaska Native village of Kipnuk from coastal flooding and erosion caused by rising sea levels. It referred to the program as ”no longer consistent“ with agency priorities, with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin calling it an example of ”wasteful DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] and environmental justice grants.“
Four months later, Kipnuk became engulfed in over six feet of water, and about 90% of the homes and structures there were destroyed. Nearly all of its residents were evacuated. The village may never be rebuilt.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular