JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump I promised many times That’s good news for political leaders in Alaska, where oil is the economic lifeblood of the U.S. campaign to expand oil drilling and which many see as hindering the Biden administration’s efforts to boost the state’s declining production.

The debate over drilling on federal lands in Alaska’s oil-rich North Slope is likely to revive in the coming months, especially in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which environmentalists have long sought to preserve as one of the country’s last wild places.

The issue of drilling on the refuge’s coastal plain, which Trump tried to do in his first term, also divides Alaska Native communities. While some welcome the potential new revenue, others worry how it will affect wildlife in an area they consider sacred.

What is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?

The largest wildlife refuge in the country covers an area roughly the size of South Carolina in northeastern Alaska. It has a diverse landscape of mountains and glaciers, tundra plains, rivers and boreal forests, and is home to a variety of wildlife such as polar bears, caribou, musk oxen and birds.

The fight over whether to drill in the refuge’s coastal plain bordering the Beaufort Sea dates back decades. Drilling advocates say the development could create thousands of jobs, generate billions of dollars in revenue and spur U.S. oil production.

Although the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says the coastal plain may contain between 4.25 billion and 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, limited information is available on the quantity and quality of the oil. It’s also unclear whether companies will want to risk pursuing projects that could be mired in litigation. Environmentalists and climate scientists have pushed for a phase-out of fossil fuels to prevent the worst consequences of climate change.

The refuge is located east of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, where the Biden administration is located. controversial endorsed Willow oil project but also about half done Oil reserves, oil and gas leasing is prohibited.

Have any drilling activities been carried out in the shelter?

An exploration well was drilled on lands owned by Alaska Native companies in the 1980s, but little information about the results has been released.

Still, opening the coastal plain to drilling has long been a goal for members of Alaska’s congressional delegation. In 2017, they added new language to the tax bill mandating the sale of two oil and gas leases by the end of 2024.

first sale The latest took place in the waning days of the Trump administration, but President Joe Biden quickly called on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to review the leasing program.

This led to: cancellation of seven leases It was purchased by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state corporation. Smaller companies gave up on the other two leases. The lawsuit regarding canceled lease agreements continues.

The Biden administration recently released a new environmental review ahead of the deadline for the required second sale. offers to offer What the Bureau of Land Management says would be the minimum area allowed by the 2017 law — a proposal that Alaska’s Republican U.S. senators floated as a mockery of the law meant to encourage exploration.

What do Alaska Natives want?

There are sharp divisions.

Leaders of Kaktovik’s Iñupiaq community in the refuge support the drilling. Gwich’in officials in communities near the refuge have said they view the coastal plain as sacred. In Caribou, they rely on calves.

Galen Gilbert, the first chief of the Arctic Village Council, said the refuge should not be drilled. Arctic Village is a Neets’aii Gwich’in community.

“We don’t want to disturb anyone. We don’t want anything. “We want our way of life, not just for ourselves, but for our future generations,” Gilbert said.

Leaders in Kaktovik have vowed to fight any attempt by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to declare the land sacred. said Josiah Patkotak, mayor of North Slope County, which includes Kaktovik. In an opinion piece in October these lands were never Gwich’in territory.

“The federal government must understand that any attempt to undermine our sovereignty will be met with fierce resistance,” he wrote.

Oil is vital to the economic well-being of North Slope communities, said Nagruk Harcharek, president of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, a nonprofit advocacy group whose members include that region’s leaders. Responsible development has long coexisted with subsistence lifestyles, he said.

What might change after Trump’s election?

In a video posted on X by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Trump said he would work to get a natural gas pipeline project, long sought by political leaders in the state, built. The project, opposed by environmentalists, has floundered over the years due to changes in direction under various governors, cost concerns and other factors.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Trump critic, told reporters that voters “even though they may not have been very favorable to Trump, they appreciate that when it comes to resource development, his policies are clearly policies that benefit an economy like Alaska’s.” .

“So I predict we will again see a return to greater economic opportunity through resource development,” he said.

Dunleavy said Trump could roll back restrictions the Biden administration imposed on new oil and gas leasing for 13 million acres (5.3 million hectares) of oil reserves. Harcharek’s group sued over the restrictions, arguing that the district’s elected leaders were ignored.

Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe in Alaska said the oil reserve was not set aside “to extract oil at any cost.” He said other important resources should also be taken into account and protected under the law.

“Oil is not and cannot be the future,” Grafe said. “The state needs to start thinking about a post-oil Plan B.”