The Biden administration released an updated analysis of a major Arctic oil and gas project last week that opened the door to approving a scaled-back version of the controversial proposal — a prospect environmentalists slammed as betraying the president’s climate agenda.
Controversy over the funding of Arctic oil-and-gas drilling comes as world leaders and top financiers prepare to gather for the United Nations climate conference on curbing carbon emissions.
The European Union has called for oil, coal and gas in the Arctic to stay in the ground, as it announced aspirations to play a greater role in the world's northernmost region.
The Kremlin is close to realizing its controversial plans for a global shipping route in its high north—plans that have put Moscow at odds with the U.S. and could create friction with China, two countries that also have designs on the Arctic.
The Trump administration will propose opening up more than two-thirds of a remote Alaska reserve to oil and gas drilling, according to a document posted Thursday in the Federal Register, removing protections safeguarded under Ronald Reagan.
