The Trump administration on Thursday
announced a plan to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (保護區(a place
that gives) protection or shelter from danger, trouble, unhappiness, etc.避難（所）;庇護（所）;慰藉), one of the largest remaining tracks(a mark or line of marks left on the ground or on
another surface by an animal, person, or vehicle that has moved over it,
showing the direction they moved in蹤跡;足跡;車轍) of pristine
wilderness in the United States.
The decision was the latest twist (to turn something,
especially repeatedly, or to turn or wrap one thing around another轉動，旋轉;纏繞，盤繞) in a long-running fight over the fate of the refuge’s coastal plain, un
unspoiled expanse
of 1.56 million acers that is believed to sit atop(聯合報翻譯，蘊藏) billions of barrels of oil but is
also a critical habitat for polar bears, caribou(a large
North American reindeer),
migratory birds and other wildlife.
During his first term, President Donald
Trump signed a 2017 tax
bill that required
two oil and gas lease sales
in the costal plain, but the Biden administration later suspended and then
canceled those leases.
On Thursday, the Interior Department said
it would hold(held的過去式，舉行，主持) an oil and gas lease
sale in the costal plain this winter. The agency also said it would reinstate(to put someone back in a job or position previously held, or
to put a law or rule back into effect:) seven oil leases in the refuge that the state of
Alaska acquired( to get or obtain something:)in
2021 but that had been canceled two years later by the Biden administration.
“This land should and will be supporting
responsible oil and gas leasing,”
Interior Secretory Doug Burgum said during an “Alaska Day” event at the
Interior Department’s headquarters, which came even as many Interior employees
were furloughed(a period of time that a soldier, worker, or prisoner is
allowed to be absent, especially to return temporarily to their own home: gh不發音) during the ongoing
government shutdown.
Burgum also announced that the Interior
Department had finalized a deal that would allow a contentious(causing , involving, or likely to cause disagreement and
argument:) gravel
road to be built through the Izembek
National Wildlife Refuge(譯自英文-Izembek(伊澤姆貝克)國家野生動物保護區是位於美國阿拉斯加州的最小的國家野生動物保護區。它位於東阿留申自治市中部的西北沿海。1980年，根據《阿拉斯加國家利益土地保護法》，幾乎所有避難所都被指定為荒野。該避難所由冷灣的辦公室管理。Izembek國家野生動物保護區位於白令海和阿拉斯加灣的高產水域之間。维基百科（英文)) in
southwestern Alaska. And he reiterated (to say something again, once or several times反復地說，反復講;重申)that the agency would greenlight an industrial road that would cut through pristine wilderness to reach a
proposed copper and zinc mine in northern Alaska.
Trump has repeatedly promised to increase
Arctic drilling as part of his plans to expand U.S. oil and gas production and
achieve “American energy dominance.”
Yet major oil companies have previously
shown little interest in drilling in the refuge, largely because of the great expense and
some concerns about public relations. It remains unclear whether they will bid in the upcoming auction (a usually public sale
of goods or property, where people make higher and higher bids (= offers of
money) for each thing, until the thing is sold to the person who will pay most拍賣；聯合報翻譯:競標).
Adding to these challenges, some major
banks have committed to not finance drilling in the refuge. And environmental groups are expected
to file lawsuits to
try to block the lease sale.
“We will fight any attempt to industrialize
the fragile coastal plain of the Arctic refuge.” said Kristen Miller, executive director
of the Alaska Wilderness League.
(Maxine Joselow)
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