Who Shuttered Alaska’s Arctic Future? Biden’s Name Is on the Ban, But He Never Said a Word
In March 2023, the Biden administration quietly issued a sweeping ban on future oil and gas leasing in areas of Alaska, without fanfare and without a single word from the President himself. This move carries devastating implications for Alaska’s energy economy and long-term development prospects.
This wasn’t a minor procedural action. It was a policy bombshell, sentencing Alaskans to a depressed economy, unable to utilize the resources beneath their feet. It effectively canceled Alaska’s next generation of energy development, locked up lands critical to the state’s future economic growth, and sent a chilling signal to every investor in responsible resource production.
“Americans deserve to know which unelected staffers or radical unnamed activists implemented sweeping change through an autopen,” said Power The Future Executive Director Daniel Turner. “The Biden energy agenda destroyed livelihoods of energy workers… The question is simple, and deserves an immediate answer: what did Joe Biden know, and when did he know it?”
That’s the heart of it: Was Biden even aware of the ban his administration issued? Or was this yet another instance of anonymous eco-activists and federal agency staffers using executive power to push their agenda behind closed doors?
Alaskans deserve answers. Shutting down Arctic development without debate, transparency, or a single word of explanation from the President himself is not leadership, it’s cowardice.
Power The Future will continue investigating. Because when a policy destroys jobs, shrinks Alaska’s economy, and reshapes our energy future, the American people deserve to know who actually made the decision.
May 30, 2025