A lot of the articles about this topic are super lengthy and hard to comprehend, so this is basically what happened.
On June 1st, the Biden Administration made headlines as they suspended oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Before President Biden took office this year, the Trump Administration had planned to drill in Alaska’s Coastal Plain, an area home to caribou, waterfowl, and what’s left of the region’s polar bears.
With that being said, the Biden Administration is taking steps to block those leases because of problems regarding its environmental impact. In Biden’s campaign, he pledged to reduce the U.S’s greenhouse gas emissions, so it can be seen that this measure is a step in the right direction.
The Gwich’in tribe that lives near the refuge were said to be happy with this decision, along with other environmental activists that have protested the drilling.
Hopefully we see more decisions like this in the future- it’s no secret that climate change is only getting worse.
