The Trump administration is planning to roll back federal restrictions on oil and gas development across millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness.
The Department of the Interior announced a proposal to rescind protections put in place for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The reserve is a 23-million-acre area about 600 miles north of Anchorage.
The move would reverse a rule put in place under President Biden last year.
The Department of the Interior says the Biden-era rule was not consistent with the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, and it says its new proposed plan would "eliminate roadblocks to responsible energy production."
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared at an event Monday in Alaska with other administration officials to push for an expansion of drilling.
"When we can have enough energy for ourselves and then sell energy to our friends and allies, they don't have to buy it from our adversaries," Burgum said.
President Trump has pushed for the U.S. to become less dependent on foreign fuel sources and campaigned on a promise to "drill, baby, drill."
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The U.S. is a net petroleum exporter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, but production of oil in Alaska has declined.
The state's production of crude oil peaked at over two million barrels per day in the late 1980s, but has decreased to fewer than 500,000 barrels per day over the past five years.
"One of the key reasons why Alaskan production has gone down is because restrictions from the federal government," said Mike Sommers, the president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, which supports more drilling. "If we lift these federal restrictions, we're going to be able to get more oil, more natural gas, out of the great state of Alaska for the use of American consumers."
But environmental groups are criticizing the proposal.
"It'll be devastating both for the local human and wildlife populations out there and for the global community," said Marlee Goska, the Alaska attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.
In a statement, Kristen Miller, the executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said, "This is another outrageous attempt to sell off public lands to oil industry billionaires at the expense of one of the wildest places left in America."
Burning fossil fuels is the main driver of climate change, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and Alaska is warming at a rate faster than any other U.S. state.
The Department of the Interior said it would accept public comment on its plan for 60 days.
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