Tuesday, January 5, 2021

RSN: Greg Palast | Stealing Georgia: Raffensperger Is No Hero

 


 

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Greg Palast | Stealing Georgia: Raffensperger Is No Hero
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. (photo: Brynn Anderson/AP)
Greg Palast, Greg Palast's Website
Palast writes: "In this investigative film (produced by George DiCaprio, Thom Hartmann and Rosario Dawson, and narrated by Debra Messing), Raffensperger is exposed for using vote suppression Jim Crow tactics - even misleading a federal court to keep 198,000 Georgians from voting in Tuesday's Senate run-off."

espite the hype, an investigative report released today reveals Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is no hero defending democracy from Trump.

Rather, in this investigative film (produced by George DiCaprio, Thom Hartmann and Rosario Dawson, and narrated by Debra Messing), Raffensperger is exposed for using vote suppression Jim Crow tactics — even misleading a federal court to keep 198,000 Georgians from voting in Tuesday’s Senate run-off.

The report centers on the lawsuit by Black Voters Matter, Rainbow PUSH and other voting rights groups to return these voters to the rolls in time for the election. It is based on Greg Palast’s investigation released by the ACLU of Georgia.

In the film, we see that the Secretary of State literally shut and locked his office in the State Capitol to avoid complying with a federal judge’s directive to meet with Palast, Black Voters Matter and their legal team to return voters before the runoff election.

The voting rights groups hunt down and confront Raffenperger’s Director of Elections with evidence of Black and Hispanic voters illegally blocked from voting — and hand him a list of 198,000 Georgians wrongfully purged from the voter rolls (including, infamously, Martin Luther King’s 94-year-old cousin, Christine Jordan).

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Our battle goes beyond January 5, 2021 and Georgia. This is a fight we’re in for the long haul until equal ballot access and voting rights are secured for ALL Americans!



Greg Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed MadhouseBillionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a major non-fiction movie, available on Amazon and can be streamed for FREE by Prime members!

Palast's new book, How Trump Stole 2020 has just been published via 7 Stories Press. Order it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org or get a signed copy.

Stay informed, get the signed DVD of the updated, post-election edition of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Case of The Stolen Election, a signed copy of the companion book or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.

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National Guard members near the White House. (photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
National Guard members near the White House. (photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)


DC Mayor Calls In National Guard Ahead of Pro-Trump Protests
Ashraf Khalil and Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press
Excerpt: "Bracing for possible violence, the nation's capital has mobilized the National Guard ahead of planned protests by President Donald Trump's supporters in connection with the congressional vote expected Wednesday to affirm Joe Biden's election victory."

Trump's supporters are planning to rally Tuesday and Wednesday, seeking to bolster the president's unproven claims of widespread voter fraud. “There are people intent on coming to our city armed,” D.C. Acting Police Chief Robert Contee said Monday.

A pro-Trump rally in December ended in violence as hundreds of Trump supporters, wearing the signature black and yellow of the Proud Boys faction, sought out confrontations with a collective of local activists attempting to bar them from Black Lives Matter Plaza, an area near the White House.

On Monday, Metropolitan Police Department officers arrested the leader of the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, after he arrived in Washington ahead of this week's protests. Tarrio was accused of burning a Black Lives Matter banner that was torn down from a historic Black church in downtown Washington during the December protests.

A warrant had been issued for Tarrio's arrest for destruction of property, police said. He was also facing a weapons charges after officers found him with two high-capacity firearm magazines when he was arrested, a police spokesman said.

Trump has repeatedly encouraged this week's protests and hinted that he may get personally involved. Over the weekend, he retweeted a promotion for the rally with the message, “I will be there. Historic Day!”

At a November rally, which drew about 15,000 people, Trump staged a limousine drive-by past cheering crowds in Freedom Plaza, on the city's iconic Pennsylvania Avenue. And at the December rally, which drew smaller numbers but a larger contingent of Proud Boys, Trump’s helicopter flew low over cheering crowds on the National Mall.

The protests coincide with Wednesday's congressional vote expected to certify the Electoral College results, which Trump continues to dispute,

Election officials from both political parties, governors in key battleground states and Trump's former attorney general, William Barr, have said there was no widespread fraud in the election. Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two rejected by the Supreme Court.

Now with downtown D.C. businesses boarding up their windows, Mayor Muriel Bowser has requested a limited National Guard deployment to help bolster the Metropolitan Police Department. During a press conference on Monday, Bowser asked that local area residents stay away from downtown D.C., and avoid confrontations with anyone who is “looking for a fight.” But, she warned, “we will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city.”

According to a U.S. defense official, Bowser put in a request on New Year’s Eve to have Guard members on the streets from Tuesday to Thursday to help with the protests. The official said the additional forces will be used for traffic control and other assistance but they will not be armed or wearing body armor. Congress is meeting this week to certify the Electoral College results, and Trump has refused to concede while whipping up support for protests.

Some 340 D.C. National Guard members will be activated, with about 115 on duty in the streets at any given time, said the defense official, who provided details on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The official said Guard members will be used to set up traffic control points around the city and to stand with district police officers at all the city’s Metro stops. Contee said Guard troops will also be used for some crowd management.

“Some of our intelligence certainly suggests there will be increased crowd sizes,” said Contee.

D.C. police have posted signs throughout downtown warning that carrying any sort of firearm is illegal and Contee asked area residents to warn authorities of anyone who might be armed.

Because D.C. does not have a governor, the designated commander of the city’s National Guard is Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. Any D.C. requests for Guard deployments have to be approved by him.

The defense official said that there will be no active duty military troops in the city, and the U.S. military will not be providing any aircraft or intelligence. The D.C. Guard will provide specialized teams that will be prepared to respond to any chemical or biological incident. But the official said there will be no D.C. Guard members on the National Mall or at the U.S. Capitol.

At previous pro-Trump protests, police have sealed off Black Lives Matter Plaza itself, but the confrontations merely spilled out to the surrounding streets. Contee on Monday said sealing the area again was “a very real possibility” but said that decision would depend on the circumstances.

“We know that historically over the last few demonstrations that BLM plaza has been a focal point," Contee said. "We want to make sure that that is not an issue.”

The National Park Service has received three separate applications for pro-Trump protests on Tuesday or Wednesday, with estimated maximum attendance at around 15,000 people, said Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst. On Monday, a stage was being assembled for one of the protests on The Ellipse, just south of the White House.

Organizers plan to rally on Tuesday evening at Freedom Plaza and again all day Wednesday on the Ellipse, including a 1 p.m. Wednesday march to the Capitol. Expected attendees include high-level Trump supporters like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republican strategist Roger Stone, a longtime Trump devotee whose three-year prison sentence was commuted by Trump. Stone was convicted of repeatedly lying to Congress during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

During the Dec. 12 pro-Trump protests, at least two local Black churches had Black Lives Matter banners torn down and set ablaze. Contee said the hate-crimes investigation into those incidents was still ongoing and that his officers would be out in force around area churches to prevent similar incidents.

“We will be increasing out visibility around the churches in the area,” he said.

On Monday the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law filed a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court against the Proud Boys and Tarrio on behalf on one of the vandalized churches, Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“We will not allow white supremacist violence to go unchecked by the laws of the land," Rev. William H Lamar IV, pastor of Metropolitan AME, said in a statement.

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Donald Trump. (photo: Andrew Harrer/Getty Images)
Donald Trump. (photo: Andrew Harrer/Getty Images

ALSO SEE: Trump Fractures GOP With No-Holds-Barred Bid to Subvert Vote

Trump Says He'll 'Fight Like Hell' to Hold on to Presidency
Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jolonick and Kevin Freking, Associated Press
Excerpt: "With mounting desperation, Donald Trump declared Monday night he would 'fight like hell' to hold on to the presidency and appealed to Republican lawmakers to reverse his election loss to Joe Biden when they convene this week to confirm the Electoral College vote."

Electoral voters won by President-elect Biden are “not gonna take this White House!” he shouted as supporters cheered at an outdoor rally in Georgia. Trump’s announced purpose for the trip was to boost Republican Senate candidates in Tuesday’s runoff election, but he spent much of his speech complaining bitterly about his election loss — which he insists he won “by a lot.”

Earlier, in Washington, he pressed Republican lawmakers to formally object Wednesday at a joint session of Congress that is to confirm Biden’s victory in the Electoral College, itself a confirmation of Biden’s nationwide victory Nov. 3.

Though he got nothing but cheers Monday night, Trump’s attempt to overturn the presidential election i s splitting the Republican Party. Some GOP lawmakers backing him are rushing ahead, despite an outpouring of condemnation from current and former party officials warning the effort is undermining Americans’ faith in democracy. All 10 living former defense secretaries wrote in an op-ed that “the time for questioning the results has passed.”

It’s unclear the extent to which GOP leaders in Congress will be able to control Wednesday’s joint session, which could drag into the night, though the challenges to the election are all but certain to fail. Trump himself is whipping up crowds for a Wednesday rally near the White House.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is under pressure to tip the results for Trump, will be closely watched as he presides in a ceremonial role over Wednesday’s joint session.

“I promise you this: On Wednesday, we’ll have our day in Congress,” Pence said while himself campaigning in Georgia ahead of Tuesday’s runoff elections that will determine control of the Senate.

Trump said in Georgia: “I hope that our great vice president comes through for us. He’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.” He added, “No, Mike is a great guy.”

One of the Georgia Republicans in Tuesday’s runoff — Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who faces Democrat Raphael Warnock — told the crowd she will join senators formally objecting to Biden’s win. The other Republican seeking reelection, David Perdue, who is running against Democrat Jon Ossoff, will not be eligible to vote.

Trump repeated numerous times his claims of election fraud, which have been rejected by election officials — Republican as well as Democratic in state after state — and courts up to the U.S. Supreme Court. His former attorney general, William Barr, also has said there is no evidence of fraud that could change the election outcome.

The congressional effort to keep Trump in office is being led by Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas, along with rank-and-file House members, some on the party’s fringe.

“Just got off the phone with @realDonaldTrump,” tweeted newly elected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is aligned with a conspiracy group backing Trump.

“He wants you to call your Rep & Senators TODAY, ALL DAY!” she tweeted Monday. “Don’t let Republicans be the Surrender Caucus!” She later joined the president on Air Force One as he traveled to Georgia.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has tried to prevent his party from engaging in this battle, which could help define the GOP in the post-Trump era. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump ally, has declined to say much publicly on it.

Both Hawley and Cruz are potential 2024 presidential contenders, vying for Trump’s base of supporters.

Biden, speaking at a drive-in rally in Atlanta, said Trump “spends more time whining and complaining” than he does working on solving the coronavirus pandemic. He added dismissively, “I don’t know why he still wants the job — he doesn’t want to do the work.”

During the day Monday, more current and former GOP officials rebuked the effort to upend the election.

Former three-term Sen. John Danforth of Missouri said in a stinging statement, “Lending credence to Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen is a highly destructive attack.” He said, “It is the opposite of conservative; it is radical.”

Two current Republican senators, Rob Portman of Ohio and Mike Lee of Utah, joined the growing number who now oppose the legislators’ challenge.

Portman said in a statement, “I cannot support allowing Congress to thwart the will of the voters.”

At the Dalton rally, Trump noted he was a “little angry” at Lee, but expressed hope that the senator would change his mind. “We need his vote,” Trump said.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the giant lobbying organization and virtual embodiment of the business establishment, said the electoral vote challenge “undermines our democracy and the rule of law and will only result in further division across our nation.”

So far, Trump has enlisted support from a dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans to challenge Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win.

With Biden set to be inaugurated Jan. 20, Trump is intensifying efforts to prevent the traditional transfer of power. On a call disclosed Sunday, he can be heard pressuring Georgia officials to “find” him more votes from the Nov. 3 election he lost in that state.

The challenge to the presidential election is on a scale unseen since the aftermath of the Civil War, though the typically routine process of confirming Electoral College votes has been hit with brief objections before. In 2017, several House Democrats challenged Trump’s win, but Biden, who presided at the time as the vice president, swiftly dismissed them to assert Trump’s victory.

States run their own elections, and Congress has been loath to interfere.

“The 2020 election is over,” said a statement Sunday from a bipartisan group of 10 senators, including Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah.

A range of Republican officials — including Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland; Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-ranking House GOP leader; and former House Speaker Paul Ryan — have criticized the GOP efforts to overturn the election.

Hawley defended his actions in a lengthy email over the weekend to colleagues, saying his Missouri constituents have been “loud and clear” in insisting Biden’s defeat of Trump was unfair.

Cruz’s coalition of 11 Republican senators vows to reject the Electoral College tallies unless Congress launches a commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. Congress is unlikely to agree to that.

The group, which presented no new evidence of election problems, includes Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

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Andrew Wheeler. (photo: Al Drago/NYT)
Andrew Wheeler. (photo: Al Drago/NYT)


EPA Finalizes Rule to Limit Science Behind Public Health Safeguards
Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis, The Washington Post
Excerpt: "The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a rule to limit what research it can use to craft public health protections, a move opponents argue is aimed at crippling the agency's ability to more aggressively regulate the nation's air and water."

The Trump administration’s ‘transparency’ rule requires researchers to disclose their raw data. Opponents argue that the goal is to exclude important research on human health.

The “Strengthening Transparency in Pivotal Science Underlying Significant Regulatory Actions and Influential Scientific Information” rule, which the administration began pursuing early in President Trump’s term, would require researchers to disclose the raw data involved in their public health studies before the agency could rely upon their conclusions. It will apply this new set of standards to “dose-response studies,” which evaluate how much a person’s exposure to a substance increases the risk of harm.

In an opinion piece posted Monday night in the Wall Street Journal, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the rule “will prioritize transparency and increase opportunities for the public to access the ‘dose-response’ data that underlie significant regulations and influential scientific information.”

“Dose-response data explain the relationship between the amount of a chemical or a pollutant and its effect on human health and the environment — and are at the foundation of EPA’s regulations,” he continued. “If the American people are to be regulated by interpretation of these scientific studies, they deserve to scrutinize the data as part of the scientific process and American self-government.”

Many of the nation’s leading researchers and academic organizations, however, argue that the criteria will actually restrict the EPA from using some of the most consequential research on human subjects because it often includes confidential medical records and other proprietary data that cannot be released due to privacy concerns.

“The people pushing it are claiming it’s in the interest of science, but the entire independent science world says it’s not,” said Chris Zarba, a former director of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board who retired in 2018 after nearly four decades at the agency. “It sounds good on the surface. But this is a bold attempt to get science out of the way so special interests can do what they want.”

The new standards affect not just “significant regulatory actions,” according to the new rule, but also “influential scientific information” that the EPA shares with the public.

Details of the rule, which Wheeler has already signed but has yet to make public, were first reported by the New York Times on Monday evening.

Wheeler plans to announce the final rule at a virtual session hosted Tuesday by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think tank that advocates for fewer federal regulations and disputes the idea that climate change poses a major threat to the United States.

The rule reflects the Trump administration’s dogged push to lock in as many policies as possible before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on Jan. 20. Although the new administration will probably seek to overturn it, such an effort will take months, if not longer. The EPA administrator is allowed to waive the requirement on a case-by-case basis, but it is possible that outside groups could challenge those waivers in court.

Forcing researchers to disclose their raw data has for years been a top priority for conservative Republicans — including some now working in the EPA’s upper ranks. The new rule was modeled on a bill championed by former House Science Committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.). One of the panel’s former staffers, Richard Yamada, helped write an early version of the regulation while serving at the EPA.

Conservatives have been particularly critical of two studies that have spurred increased regulation: a 1993 Harvard University project that linked air pollution to premature deaths and a Columbia University analysis of a widely used pesticide, chlorpyrifos, that suggested the chemical causes neurological damage in babies.

According to a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Trump officials discussed how to block such research in a Jan. 25, 2018, briefing on the proposed rule. Referring to Harvard’s Six Cities study and another pollution study conducted by the American Cancer Society, the notes read, “The scientific community has identified major shortcomings in the methodologies and findings of these studies, all of which could be addressed if EPA provided the underlying data for independent review.”

In the wake of protests from public health experts and congressional Democrats, the EPA revised the proposal so that it would not apply retroactively to past assessments of studies like the ones cited in the 2018 meeting.

But Environmental Defense Fund General Counsel Vickie Patton, whose group obtained the document, said in an email that it “reveals the Trump EPA is focused on attacking the peer-reviewed health science that has saved tens of thousands of lives each year from deadly air pollution and protected America’s children from pesticides.”

Andrew Rosenberg, who directs the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Center for Science and Democracy and regularly reviews scientific studies before they are published in academic journals, said that the agency’s emphasis on the need for raw data is misplaced.

“As a well-experienced peer reviewer, I very rarely scrutinize raw data,” he said. “Rather, I look at data collection and analysis methods, summary and other statistics and graphics and results and conclusions to determine the validity of a study and the strength of its scientific evidence.”

The EPA has not published estimates on how much it will cost to implement the rule and what effect it will have on public health.

Because researchers are particularly reluctant to release individual medical records used in human studies, Rosenberg said, the rule disproportionately affects “epidemiological studies, which is ironic in the midst of a pandemic. Because these data can’t be made public, EPA will ignore epidemiological evidence of population-level effects of contaminants, pollution and other environmental threats.”

In his opinion piece, Wheeler said critics of the rule had distorted both its intent and its impact.

“This rule is not a stick for forcing scientists to choose between respecting the privacy and rights of their study participants and submitting their work for consideration,” he said. “It won’t categorically exclude any scientific work from EPA use. We don’t seek to limit anyone’s ability to conduct sound science.”

Thomas Sinks, who previously led the Office of the Science Advisor at the EPA and oversaw its rules on research involving human subjects, is among numerous scientists who note that the EPA already has a robust scientific integrity policy and a long-standing peer-review process for any data upon which it relies.

“It is based on a conspiracy theory, which is that EPA practices secret science,” Sinks, who wrote a forceful rebuke of the new rule before his retirement last September, said of the effort. “But there’s no evidence EPA practices secret science. I’m unaware of an example where EPA hasn’t clearly stated what science it is using in its rulemaking.”

Sinks said he also worries that Tuesday’s final rule deepens the broader attack on science by the Trump administration, and that it could have a lasting impact that goes beyond any single regulation.

“I’m mostly concerned about the fact this rule and other actions like this rule are diminishing the efforts and the importance of science and scientists within the federal government,” he said. “That is a dangerous precedent.”

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (photo: Peter Nicholls/Reuters)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. (photo: Peter Nicholls/Reuters)

ALSO SEE: Mexico Ready to Offer Asylum to Assange, AMLO Says


Australia Says Assange Is 'Free to Return Home' if US Extradition Appeal Fails
John Bowden, The Hill
Bowden writes: "Australia's prime minister said Tuesday that his government would allow Julian Assange to return home should efforts fail to extradite the WikiLeaks founder from London to face charges in the U.S."

Reuters reported that Scott Morrison made the remarks during a radio interview, telling the hosts that he had no inside information on Assange's legal battles but adding that Australian consulate services are available to him and all other Australians.

“Well, the justice system is making its way and we’re not a party to that. And like any Australian, they’re offered consular support and should, you know, the appeal fail, obviously he would be able to return to Australia like any other Australian,” Morrison said.

“So, yes, it’s just a straightforward process of the legal system in the U.K. working its way through," he continued, according to Reuters.

Assange faces espionage charges in the U.S. over WikiLeaks' release of confidential documents related to U.S. involvement in the Iraq War that exposed wrongdoing in the Middle East, including the killing of civilians.

U.S. efforts to extradite him were dealt a blow on Monday when a British judge blocked the move, saying that the long-confined Assange was now a suicide risk and citing the death of Jeffrey Epstein in federal custody as evidence. Prosecutors plan to appeal that decision.

Assange has remained in U.K. custody for months following his eviction from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he was previously sheltered for years.

Mexico's government also extended an offer of asylum on Monday.

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A woman is tested for Covid-19 in Johannesburg's Alexandra township. (photo: Kim Ludbrook/EPA/Shutterstock)
A woman is tested for Covid-19 in Johannesburg's Alexandra township. (photo: Kim Ludbrook/EPA/Shutterstock)


UK Scientists Worry Vaccines May Not Protect Against South African Coronavirus Variant
Reuters
Excerpt: "UK scientists expressed concern on Monday that COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out in Britain may not be able to protect against a new variant of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa and has spread internationally."


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Polar bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (photo: Josh Haner/NYT)
Polar bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (photo: Josh Haner/NYT)


Last-Minute White House Decision Opens More Arctic Land to Oil Leasing
Yereth Rosen, Reuters
Rosen writes: "U.S. President Donald Trump's administration announced on Monday that it has made final its plan to open up vast areas of once-protected Arctic Alaska territory to oil development."

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released its plan for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), a 23 million-acre swath of land on the western North Slope. The record, signed by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt on Dec. 21, allows lease sales to proceed under relaxed standards.

The decision is one of a number of pro-drilling actions taken by the Trump administration in its final days. On Wednesday, the bureau is scheduled to auction off drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern North Slope.

The plan allows oil development on about 80 percent of the reserve. Under Obama-era rules, about half of the reserve was available for leasing, with the other half protected for environmental and indigenous reasons.

The Trump plan allows leasing in vast Teshekpuk Lake, the largest lake in Arctic Alaska and a haven for migrating birds and wildlife. Teshekpuk Lake has been off-limits to leasing since the Reagan administration.

“We are expanding access to our nation’s great energy potential and providing for economic opportunities and job creation for both Alaska Natives and our nation,” said Casey Hammond, principal deputy secretary for the Department of the Interior.

It is unclear whether making this acreage available will boost Alaskan oil production, which peaked more than 30 years ago at 2 million barrels per day. The state now produces roughly 500,000 bpd of crude.

The NPR-A decision got a swift response from environmentalists who have already sued to overturn the plan.

“On its way out the door, this administration is sticking to its blunt and destructive approach to management solely for oil development,” said David Krause, assistant Alaska director for The Wilderness Society, in a statement.

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