The following editorial first appeared in the Ketchikan Daily News:
Alaska expected it from Day One.
President Obama, who received election support from the extreme environmental community, would make headlines placing parts of Alaska off limits to development.
Whether he did it on his way out of the White House in December 2012 after a failed re-election bid or in December 2016, after completing two terms, he would make an environmental statement in the 49th state.
He has done it.
Last week he designated most of the U.S.-owned Arctic Ocean and certain areas of the Atlantic Ocean off limits to oil and gas leases.
In doing this, he has taken control out of the hands of the Alaskans in the Arctic. He has further inhibited Alaska’s economic future.
All of this at the behest of one special interest group who supported his candidacy — not even his entire campaign support network.
This event occurs as a result of an executive order, the same type of order Obama earlier this week encouraged his successor to avoid.
Such orders being imposed upon Alaska is nothing new. Former President Jimmy Carter created 11 of his 15 national monuments in Alaska. The monuments covered almost 56 million acres. In total, according to the National Park Service, presidents have designated 127 national monuments since the Antiquities Act of 1906.
Of those monuments, 11 have been abolished. It’s likely President-elect Trump will add to that number. Based on his comments and his cabinet appointments, he intends to be a developer’s president, particularly when it comes to oil and natural gas.
It’ll be Day One all over again — just for the development side of the coin this time.
