Biden administration suspends Trump-era oil and gas drilling leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Biden administration is suspending oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, reversing one of former President Donald Trump's final environmental decisions before leaving office. The administration plans to further explore the environmental impacts of drilling in the fragile Alaskan region. 

On his first day in the White House, President Joe Biden issued an executive order placing a temporary ban on the leases. Citing the "legal deficiencies" of the current program and "inadequacy" of the previous review, Secretary Deb Haaland suspended all activities in the region on Tuesday, pending a comprehensive analysis.  ANWR covers 19.3 million acres, about 1.6 million of which are coastal plains containing precious and highly fought over oil and gas resources. It's home to hundreds of thousands of migrating polar bears, waterfowl and caribou — and it's warming twice as fast as any other region on the Earth due to climate change.