Krestia DeGeorge

The Obama administration will move to block oil and gas leasing permanently on about 9.8 million acres in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska's northern coast, citing biodiversity and Alaska Native subsistence whaling.

Almost 150 years ago, Secretary of State William H. Seward made a deal that linked the futures of Alaska and the United States. But at a New York museum dedicated to Seward, the artifacts tying the man to the transaction provide little insight into the monumental purchase.

The agency announced Friday it was initiating a process to consider options that might restrict Pebble Mine, or block it altogether.