Monday’s action by the Biden Administration reverses a Trump administration proposal that would have permitted the government lease to drill for oil or gas more than two thirds of America’s biggest swathes of public land.

Bureau of Land Management decisionThis will reduce the land that is available to lease in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, an area of approximately 23,000,000 acres and home to animals like caribous and polar bears.

The decision returns to an Obama administration plan that allows fossil fuel extraction in up to 52% of the reserve, compared to the Trump administration’s effort to open up 82% of the land to drilling. The decision will reinstate environmental protections in certain areas of the reserve including Teshekpuk Lake. This is a unique wetland that’s rich in wildlife.

This is in response to the increasing number of permits for oil and gas drilling on public land that the Bureau of Land Management has approved declined to its lowest numberThis was earlier in the year under the Biden administration.

Warren G. Harding was the first president to create the Reserve as an emergency oil supply reserve for the U.S Navy in 1923. In 1976, The Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act specifically designated the area for oil-and gas production. This was moved by the Bureau of Land Management.

The reserve generated more than $56 million in oil and gas lease revenue in 2019, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

According to US Energy Information Administration, oil and gas production from the reserve could release more than 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. This is roughly equal to what was released by the whole country in 2019.

Kristen Monsell (oceans legal director, Center for Biological Diversity), said that the Biden administration’s reversal wasn’t sufficient to address climate change and stop the extraction of new fossil fuels.

Monsell stated in a statement that more Arctic drilling would also lead to more oil spillages, polluted communities, and greater harm for polar bears as well as other endangered wildlife. Biden officials have the power and obligation to support the transition from a corrupt, unjust and renewable economy and to prevent catastrophic climate change.