In a Q&A with the Daily News, Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau discussed the Biden administration’s recent decisions on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Willow project.
I understand that you spent much of your childhood in Alaska. I’m wondering how your background in the state influences your thinking now on resource development.I grew up in Alaska. My dad, when he got out of the Marine Corps, got a job on the North Slope after the trans-Alaska pipeline came online, and my family moved up to the state when I was in second or third grade, I guess. I graduated from Service High School.
That said, the discussion has evolved as many things with respect to energy development across the nation and Alaska has evolved. With respect to ANWR in particular, I think a couple of things. One, there is the 2017 tax act that requires two lease sales in the 1002 area. The first of those, as our analysis showed and as has been communicated, included a lot of very serious legal deficiencies. And so, the bottom line for the decision to cancel the leases was a legal one.
With respect to the draft NPR-A rule, that was put out as well as the decision to cancel the leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, again, both of those measures have their own independent authorities as well as rationale. The NPR-A has specific special areas within it that are extremely important, including to Alaska Native subsistence users. And those areas deserve protection, and that’s why we put out the draft rule.
the Interior Department has a record of unfairly closing off development in Alaska, while approving projects in other states. How do you respond to that?Well, as an Alaskan myself, I know where that sentiment comes from. I also think it is a sentiment that is shared in most Western states. And it’s honestly a perspective that I bring into this job and the work I do at the Interior Department. Every place wants to be self-sufficient.
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