Environment Minister Pauline Frost has praised last week’s U.S. moratorium on oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“Within hours of his inauguration, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order stopping the Bureau of Land Management’s current oil and gas lease program for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” Frost said in a statement last Friday.

“This is an important step towards reversing the former administration’s efforts to open the critical habitat to industrial development and will help maintain the sustainability of the important Porcupine caribou herd.”

The Yukon government continues to work with its partners in Porcupine Caribou management, Frost added.

It’s also working with the governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories, Inuvialuit, Gwich’in Tribal Council, Vuntut Gwitchin, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun.

“While the executive order is only a temporary moratorium, it states that the United States government will review the instruments that put this oil and gas program in place and conduct a new, comprehensive analysis of the potential environmental impacts it could cause,” Frost added.

“Together with other Canadian parties to the Porcupine Caribou Management Agreement, we intervened and decried the lack of attention to scientifically-proven environmental impacts at every available opportunity throughout the regulatory process.

“We presented our shared analysis of decades-long scientific research, which clearly demonstrates development in the crucial calving grounds will have significant negative impacts on the herd and the corresponding subsistence and cultural practices of the many communities who rely on this caribou.”

There is still a long way to go for the permanent protection of “this unique and important herd, and we are saddened by the nine lease tracts sold on January 19,” the minister added.

“But we will not stop demanding adequate protection for this herd and their critical habitat.

“We will continue to collect and analyze data that supports decision-making based on strong, current science, and long-established traditional knowledge.”

With this new executive order, “which sends a signal that is consistent with our shared values of informed, science-based decision making,” the minister said, “we will continue our efforts with renewed optimism and enthusiasm.”