The Interior Department is set to pause nearly a dozen oil and gas leases in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to The Washington Post. The move will rollback an auction that took place during the final days of the previous presidential administration and was viewed as one of the most destructive elements of Trump’s environmental legacy.

Major reversal of Trump policy: Biden to suspend oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – a pristine 19-million acre site in northern Alaska

— West Wing Reports (by Paul Brandus) (@WestWingReport) June 1, 2021

Politico reports that the Interior Department will take a “deeper look at the environmental impacts of drilling in the sensitive region,” meaning the contracts are in limbo. More from Politico:

A new environmental analysis could impose additional restrictions on development in the refuge or potentially nullify the leases altogether, undoing one of the signature policy achievements of the Trump administration. But it would not go as far as green groups have requested in an ongoing lawsuit, which aims to void the leases that were awarded earlier this year.

The pause and environmental analysis are consistent with Biden’s Inauguration-Day executive order to place a moratorium on new Arctic drilling. The Wall Street Journal provides more context:

The refuge—a remote corner of northeast Alaska that is about the size of South Carolina—is home to polar bears and caribou herds. It has been off limits to drillers, miners and other developers for decades. Mr. Biden has sided with environmentalists who say the area should remain pristine, protected wilderness.

Biden’s policy has drawn praise from Arctic tribal leaders who’ve been fighting to end drilling in the region.

“Since we started this effort, we have always been told to work in a good way and if we do, good things will come. We are seeing proof of that today,” Tonya Garnett of Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, said in a statement. “I want to thank President Biden and the Interior Department for recognizing the wrongs committed against our people by the last Administration, and for putting us on the right path forward. This goes to show that, no matter the odds, the voices of our Tribes matter.”

Drilling in the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain was opened up as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Critics say the Trump administration rushed through the ensuing approval process. From The Washington Post:

The January sale of 11 tracts in the refuge on just over 550,000 acres netted roughly $14 million, a tiny fraction of what Republicans initially predicted it would yield. Only two of the bids were competitive, so nearly all of the land sold for the minimum price of $25 an acre.