CNN —Hours after former President Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 election, the Biden administration moved Wednesday to limit oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oil drilling had been banned for decades in the Arctic refuge — a pristine natural region in northeast Alaska home to a wide range of threatened species. But a law passed during the first Trump administration required the federal government to hold two lease sales there for fossil fuel drilling. The Biden administration signaled Wednesday it plans to move forward with a 400,000-acre auction — the lowest acreage it could legally offer. “Today’s action by the Biden administration better protects the Arctic Refuge, and for that, we are grateful,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League.

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Persons: Donald Trump, Biden, Trump, Joe Biden, “, ”, Kristen Miller, Josiah Patkotak Organizations: CNN, Wildlife, Interior Department, Trump, House, Alaska Wilderness League, Biden administration’s Department of the, North Slope Borough Locations: Alaska, Slope, North Slope