Trump administration approves 1st oil and gas production facility in federal Arctic waters

The Beaufort Sea.
(Image credit: AP Photo/David Goldman)

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has issued a conditional permit for the first oil and gas production facility in federal Arctic waters.

"Responsibly developing our resources, in Alaska especially, will allow us to use our energy diplomatically to aid our allies and check our adversaries," Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in the announcement Wednesday. The Liberty Project is a proposal for production wells on a gravel island in the Beaufort Sea, The Associated Press reports. Hilcorp Energy will build an island 15 miles east of Prudhoe Bay, close to six miles offshore, developing federal leases sold in the 1990s. It will have room for 16 wells, with Hilcorp estimating it will extract 60,000 to 70,000 barrels per day, moving the oil to shore through an undersea pipe.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.