Biden protects 13 million acres of Alaska western Arctic from oil drilling

The Biden Interior Department publishes a final rule protecting 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska from oil and gas development, maximizing protections for some of the most ecologically sensitive and biologically productive land in North America. The rule restores the "Integrated Activity Plan" protecting main habitats that were opened to drilling by the Trump administration. The reserve is home to polar bears, caribou, migratory birds, and Indigenous communities. Environmental groups call it the most notable public lands protection since the Clinton era. Combined with Biden's Chuckwalla and Sáttítla National Monument designations, Biden ultimately protects more than 700 million acres of US land and water during his term.