Biden administration moves to protect more of Alaska refuge from drilling

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday moved to put more of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge off limits to oil and gas development, in a last-minute bid to complicate President-elect Donald Trump's efforts to boost drilling in the area.

The Interior Department, which manages ANWR, said it had identified areas of the refuge for protection to preserve fish and wildlife used by subsistence hunters there.

"Fish and wildlife have provided food for Alaska Native people in this region for millennia and, based on the information we received and our legal mandate, we have concluded it is necessary to commence a process to ensure its protection," said Interior  Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis.

It is unclear if the move would cordon off any acreage that is particularly attractive to the oil and gas industry, which has largely withdrawn from new Arctic projects due to high costs and other constraints, and which shied away from auctions in the refuge this year and in 2021.

Trump has vowed to maximize U.S. oil and gas production, already at record highs, including by opening up ANWR.

His pick for Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum, said on Thursday at his nomination hearing that restricting U.S. energy output means production will occur in other countries with fewer environmental safeguards.

(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Sonali Paul)

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