(RepublicanJournal.org) – The Biden administration has launched a new attack on US energy security. The Department of the Interior (DoI) has just banned oil and gas drilling across a huge area of Alaska. The move will force us to rely on more “green” energy, which is expensive and unreliable.
On July 5, the DoI announced a ban on any future drilling for oil or gas on 28 million acres of federal land in Alaska. It also blocked the construction of a road that would have connected planned copper and cobalt mines in the state to the highway network, effectively making it impossible to operate the mines. The road had been authorized by former president Donald Trump in 2020, but when the Biden administration took over, President Joe Biden’s new interior secretary ordered a review, which delayed construction for three years –- and now has refused permission. The irony is that President Biden’s planned “green” energy agenda will need huge quantities of copper and cobalt, which the US will now need to import.
Alaskan legislators are united in supporting the drilling and mining plans. Both of the state’s senators and a Democrat congresswoman wrote to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland asking for the road to be reinstated and pointing out that shutting down the mining projects will “prolong our deep dependence on foreign minerals and magnify the vulnerabilities and atrocities associated with it.” Haaland has ignored that bipartisan request.
Now Alaska power director Rick Whitbeck slammed the administration, calling it a “double whammy” attack on the state and accusing Biden of having targeted Alaska 65 times. He warned that the decision would be good news for Russia, China, and other hostile states. It’s also likely to push up energy prices, including the cost of gas. It’s a high price to pay for Biden’s attempt to win votes from environmentalists.
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