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Trump approves contentious Alaska drilling, mining

The Trump administration is opening up more drilling in a contentious Alaskan wildlife refuge that was restricted under the Biden administration.

It’s also approving two other contentious projects in Alaska: Ambler Road, which will enable copper and cobalt mining; and Izembek Road, which will cut through a wildlife refuge to give a remote community airport access.

The Interior Department said in a press release that it was issuing a final approval of a plan to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s (ANWR) 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain for oil and gas development.

The Biden administration had limited the lands available to the 400,000 acres required by law.

Opponents of such drilling have raised concerns

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