The Trump administration is pursuing its plans of opening up more federal lands in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Reuters reports the Alaska Bureau of Land Management had not canceled a scheduled public meeting on the topic on Wednesday despite the shutdown, which has affected the Department of Interior, along with another eight federal agencies, albeit partially. Plans to open up more land to drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska have already been discussed at several public meetings, which the Bureau of Land Management is obligated to hold, but some have questioned the legality of the meetings scheduled and held during the shutdown. “There were a lot of people concerned about how they’re conducting business during the shutdown,” said Martha Itta, an administrator for the tribal government of an Alaskan village of 450, told Reuters. “There was even a question to them if the meeting was […]