Trump Agency Moves to Expand Drilling in Alaskan Oil Reserve (1)

The Trump administration is moving to expand the territory open for oil exploration in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, a process that could shift drilling rigs closer to herds of caribou and flocks of threatened birds.

With a notice scheduled to be released Nov. 20, the Interior Department is taking the first formal step toward rewriting a 5-year-old Obama administration management plan that put roughly half of the 22.1-million-acre reserve off limits. The new management plan will reflect “exciting new discoveries” and advances in technology, said Joe Balash, assistant secretary of the Interior for land and minerals management.

“Some of the ...