June 3, 2021 3:20 a.m.

Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley said he welcomes the decision from the U.S. Department of the Interior to suspend leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

A release said the leases are suspended until “…crucial defects in the environmental review process underlying those leases are properly examined”.

Merkley, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the U.S. Department of the Interior, said: “After years of denying climate science and buddying up with fossil fuel executives, it’s not surprising that the Trump administration’s environmental review process for leasing applicants in the Arctic Refuge could be riddled with serious errors”.

Merkley said the leases need to be stopped and protections for the Arctic Refuge preserved for good.

The announcement from the Department of the Interior was made on Tuesday.