Alaska Auctions Taiwan-Sized Area of Arctic for Oil Drilling (1)

A roughly Taiwan-sized area of Alaska’s Arctic will be auctioned for oil and gas development on Thursday through Nov. 3 in one of the country’s largest oil and gas lease sales.

The sale could lead to a massive expansion of the fossil fuel industry’s footprint in an environmentally sensitive region that is warming up to four times faster than the rest of North America amid a changing climate.

Alaska is offering all unleased state-owned land on the Arctic North Slope to oil drillers this week, said Marta Mueller, leasing lead for the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas.

The leasing ...