阿拉斯加朱诺——美国政府周三为阿拉斯加北极国家野生动物保护区举行了有史以来第一次石油和天然气租赁出售，批评者称这是一次失败的事件，主要石油公司置身事外，一家国有公司成为主要投标人。
在一名法官周二拒绝了土著和保护组织停止活动的请求后，拍卖如期举行，获得了避难所沿海平原上22块土地中的一半。举行此次拍卖的美国土地管理局表示，投标正在审查中。
波弗特海附近崎岖的偏远地区被当地的格威奇人视为圣地。租赁出售的批评者说，该地区很特殊，为包括驯鹿、北极熊、狼和鸟类在内的野生动物提供栖息地，应该禁止钻探。
钻井的支持者将开发视为提高石油产量、创造收入、创造或维持就业的一种方式。
阿拉斯加工业发展和出口管理局是一家国有企业，也是此次交易的主要竞标者。它的执行董事艾伦·韦茨纳在一份声明中说，在收购九块土地时，“阿拉斯加保留负责任地开发其自然资源的权利。”
该州国会代表团成员在土地管理局发布的声明中称赞这一天意义重大。州长迈克·邓利维在推特上称租赁出售“对阿拉斯加来说是历史性的，对美国来说是巨大的”
“阿拉斯加人为了这一刻已经等了两代人；我与他们站在一起支持这一天，”他说。
内政部副部长凯特·麦格雷戈表示，这笔交易在一定程度上标志着特朗普政府致力于“在未来几十年实现美国能源安全的目标”
“当涉及到北极国家安全时，今天的出售将进一步表明美国将有一个长期的经济存在，”她补充说。
目前还不清楚上市公司的兴趣水平。许多银行已经宣布了停止向北极项目贷款的计划，当选总统乔·拜登表示反对在避难所钻井。
尽管美国地方法院法官莎伦·格里森(Sharon Gleason)周二拒绝停止出售，但她尚未对质疑联邦政府进行的环境审查程序是否充分的潜在诉讼做出裁决。
美国土地管理局阿拉斯加州局长查德·帕吉特(Chad Padgett)周三为审查过程进行了辩护，称审查过程严格，并反驳了批评者关于出售仓促的说法。他称这次销售是成功的。
土地管理机构表示，在“乐观、积极的假设情景”下，勘探可能在租赁出售后两年内开始，生产可能在出售后八年开始。
阿拉斯加石油和天然气协会主席兼首席执行官卡拉·莫里亚蒂(Kara Moriarty)表示，尽管销售结果“可能不如我们预期的那样强劲，但行业仍然支持未来进入这一领域。”
她在一份声明中表示:“今天的出售反映了2020年前所未有的事件后，油气行业继续面临的残酷经济现实，以及持续的监管不确定性。”
阿拉斯加荒野联盟的执行董事亚当·科尔顿称这次出售对阿拉斯加国会代表团来说是“一个巨大的尴尬”，该代表团支持长达几十年的开放沿海平原进行钻探的努力，并支持总统唐纳德·特朗普美国政府。
US holds first oil lease sale for Alaska's Arctic refuge
JUNEAU, Alaska -- The U.S. government held its first-ever oil and gas lease sale Wednesday for Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an event critics labeled as a bust with major oil companies staying on the sidelines and a state corporation emerging as the main bidder.
The sale, held as scheduled after a judge Tuesday rejected requests by Indigenous and conservation groups to halt the event, garnered bids on half the 22 tracts that were listed as available in the refuge’s coastal plain. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which held the sale, said the bids were under review.
The rugged remote area off the Beaufort Sea is considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in. Critics of the lease sale say the region is special, providing habitat for wildlife including caribou, polar bears, wolves and birds, and should be off limits to drilling.
Supporters of drilling have viewed development as a way to bolster oil production, generate revenue and create or sustain jobs.
A state corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, was the sale's main bidder. Its executive director, Alan Weitzner, in a statement, said in acquiring nine tracts, “Alaska preserves the right to responsibly develop its natural resources.”
Members of the state's congressional delegation, in a statement released by the land management agency, lauded the day as momentous. Gov. Mike Dunleavy, on Twitter, called the lease sale “historic for Alaska and tremendous for America.”
“Alaskans have waited two generations for this moment; I stand with them in support of this day,” he said.
Kate MacGregor, a deputy Interior Department secretary, said the sale marked, in part, the Trump administration's commitment to working “to fulfill the goal of U.S. energy security for decades to come.”
“And when it comes to Arctic national security, today's sale will further demonstrate the United States will have a long-term economic presence,” she added.
It was not clear heading into the sale what level of interest there would be among companies. A number of banks had announced plans to stop lending to projects in the Arctic, and President-elect Joe Biden has expressed opposition to drilling in the refuge.
While U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason on Tuesday refused to halt the sale, she has yet to rule on underlying lawsuits challenging the adequacy of the environmental review process undertaken by the federal government.
Chad Padgett, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Alaska state director, defended the review process Wednesday as rigorous and disputed critics' claims that the sale had been rushed. He called the sale a success.
The land management agency has said under an “optimistic, aggressive hypothetical scenario" exploration could begin within two years after a lease sale, with production eight years after a sale.
Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said while the sale's results “may not have been as robust as we might have expected, industry still supports future access to this area."
“Today's sale reflects the brutal economic realities the oil and gas industry continues to face after the unprecedented events of 2020, coupled with ongoing regulatory uncertainty,” she said in a statement.
Adam Kolton, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League, called the sale “a huge embarrassment” for Alaska's congressional delegation, which supported the decades-long push to open the coastal plain to drilling, and to President Donald Trump's administration.
“Essentially, the Trump administration had a party, hoped the oil industry would show up and it didn't,” he said. Kolton called the sale the “death knell for anybody who's arguing that this is going to be an oil jobs and revenue bonanza. I mean, they've just been unmasked."
