New Administration, New Agenda: Mixed messaging from Biden Administration spells uncertainty for oil and gas investment.

• Author: Hersey, Linda F.

President Joe Biden sent a clear message early this summer about his position on oil and gas development in Alaska.

The president set parameters for future energy development in Alaska, in what at first appeared to be contradictory back-to-back actions on exploration and drilling. Upon closer look, the pair of decisions underscored the president's recognition that the US economy depends on fossil fuels in its energy portfolio.

Biden signaled that Alaska oil and gas development will continue in areas long used for that purpose.

The back-to-back decisions illustrate the balancing act faced by the Biden administration as it proceeds on a campaign promise to move the nation toward less dependence on fossil fuels for renewable energy sources.

Several Interventions

The Biden administration intervened in an environmental lawsuit to support ConocoPhillips' Willow Project, located in America's northernmost National Petroleum Reserve.

The vast tract of public land on Alaska's North Slope is owned by the federal government and spans more than 20 million acres, which were originally set aside a century ago for oil production.

The Willow Project would be one of the first new major Alaska gas and oil projects in several years. It is projected to provide up to 2,000 temporary construction jobs during development and 300 permanent jobs.

The Biden administration followed that court action with a decision to temporarily halt oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Biden also signed an executive order right after taking office to put a moratorium on new gas and oil activities on public lands and offshore waters, an action that is now being litigated.

The opposing messages--to allow oil and gas production in one area of Alaska, while denying it in another-vexed advocates and stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, the state's largest taxpayer.

"The Biden administration's energy policies have been a mixed bag for Alaska's oil and gas industry," says Alaska litigator Lee Baxter, who works closely with Alaska Native corporations, tribal and state governments, public entities, and companies throughout Alaska.

"On one hand, the Department of Justice is currently defending the NPR-A Willow Project in Alaska federal court," says Baxter, who specializes in natural resources at Schwabe Williamson b Wyatt. "But, significantly, on the other hand. President Biden has imposed a temporary moratorium on oil and gas lease activities, and his Interior Department suspended leases" in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

E. Colleen Bryan, communications director for...