The Trump administration is finalizing a plan to open Alaska’s wildlife refuge to drilling

JUNE, Alaska (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday finalized plans to open the coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to potential oil and gas drilling, renewing a long-running debate over whether to drill in one of the country’s ecological gems.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced the decision Thursday that paves the way for future lease sales within the refuge’s 1.5 million-acre (631,309 hectare) coastal plain, an area considered sacred to Gwich’in Native people. The plan fulfills pledges made by President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress to reopen this part of the refuge for potential development. Trump’s bill for tax breaks and spending cuts, which passed over the summer, called for at least four rental sales inside the refuge over a 10-year period.

Burgum was joined in Washington, D.C., by Republican Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and the state’s congressional delegation for this and other land-related announcements, including the department’s decision to restore oil and gas leases on the refuge that were canceled by the previous administration.

A federal judge said in March that the Biden administration lacked the authority to cancel the leases, which were owned by a government company that was the lead bidder in the first-ever lease sale for the shelter held at the end of Trump’s first term.

Read more: Biden cancels recent oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge, canceling sales held by Trump

Leaders in Gwich’in indigenous communities near the refuge consider the coastal plain sacred, citing its importance to the caribou herd they depend on, and oppose drilling there. Leaders of Kaktovik, an Inupiaq community within the refuge, support drilling and see responsible oil development as key to their region’s economic well-being.

“It is encouraging to see policymakers in Washington advancing policies that respect our voice and support Kaktovik’s long-term success,” Kaktovik Inupiat President Charles Lamb said in a statement.

The shelter’s second lease sale, which took place near the end of President Joe Biden’s term, did not yield any bidders, but critics of the sale said it was too restrictive in scope.

With Thursday’s announcement, the administration “is putting corporate interests above the lives, cultures, and spiritual responsibilities of the people whose survival depends on the caribou herd, the freedom to live on this land, and the health of the Arctic refuge,” said Meda DeWitt, Alaska director for The Wilderness Society.

The measures detailed Thursday are consistent with those laid out by Trump upon his return to office in January, which also included calls to speed up construction of a road to connect the communities of King Cove and Cold Bay.

Burgum on Thursday announced the completion of a land exchange deal aimed at building the road that will pass through the Izimbek National Wildlife Refuge. King Cove residents have long sought a land connection through the refuge to the all-weather airport at Cold Bay, considering it vital for emergency medical care. Dunleavy and the congressional delegation supported the effort, calling it a life and safety issue.

Conservationists have vowed to mount a legal challenge to the agreement, with some tribal leaders concerned that the road will drive away the migratory birds they depend on. The refuge, located near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, contains internationally recognized habitat for migratory waterfowl. Previous land swap proposals have been met with controversy and litigation.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, said the latest land agreement would exchange about 500 acres (202 hectares) of “ecologically irreplaceable wildlands” inside the refuge for up to 1,739 acres (703.7 hectares) of King Cove lands outside the refuge. Tribal leaders in some communities further north, in the Yup’ik communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, have expressed concerns that road development would harm migratory birds important to their livelihoods.

“We fully plan, along with the indigenous villages of Hooper Bay and Paimut, to challenge this decision in court,” said Cooper Freeman, the center’s Alaska director.

Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski told reporters that she has been fighting for access to King Cove land throughout her term, and has visited both the community and the shelter. She described the refuge as a “literal breadbasket” for many waterfowl and said it was in everyone’s interest to ensure the road was built with minimal disturbance.

“I think it’s important to remember that no one is talking about a multi-lane paved road that carries a lot of big trucks back and forth,” she said. “It is still an 11-mile, single-lane gravel road and is not intended for commercial use.”