Donald Trump seems determined to do as much damage to this country as he can before leaving office. One of the things he wants to do is sell oil drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and he is accelerating the process to get it done before leaving office.
Here is part of how Bloomberg News is reporting this:
The Trump administration is racing to sell oil drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before Joe Biden takes office so the president-elect can’t revoke the contracts.
The Interior Department announced Thursday it will hold the auction on Jan. 6 -- an accelerated timetable meant to ensure the oil and gas leases are formally issued before Biden is sworn in Jan. 20. Biden has vowed to permanently protect the refuge, but formal leases are contracts with the federal government and are difficult to cancel. . . .
The Interior Department is posting the formal sale notice before it finishes soliciting input on what specific tracts should be up for auction. The agency had given oil companies until Dec. 17 to make recommendations and told a federal court that it would publish a notice of sale “subsequently” if it decided to hold an auction. . . .
The sale date gives the Trump administration two weeks to formally issue any leases sold at auction before Biden is sworn in as president. That process of vetting high bidders and subjecting them to a Justice Department review typically takes months, but Interior officials have been strategizing on ways to accelerate it.
It’s not clear which oil companies might show up for an auction, given the current economic environment, the regulatory uncertainty and the steep public opposition to Arctic drilling. Companies once viewed as potential bidders for Arctic acreage have slashed spending this year as the coronavirus pandemic eroded crude demand and prices. Conservationists have identified a handful of little-known oil explorers, speculators and Alaska interests that could vie for coastal plain drilling rights.
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