Could Russia’s invasion of Ukraine convince the Biden administration to abandon its opposition to increased domestic oil and natural gas production? It seems doubtful, but the example of the Trans-Alaska pipeline does provide reason for hope.

The environmental red tape and litigation being used today to block new oil and natural gas projects is nothing new. Similar tactics were also employed in the early 1970s against the Trans-Alaska pipeline, a proposed 800-mile project that would carry the recently discovered oil reserves in Alaska’s North Slope south to the port of Valdez and on to the West Coast refineries.