of new opportunities the official said more pompeo welcomes sea ice melt as new trade opportunities during arctic speech in response to abc news the official said the administration doesnt see those changes as a good thing the environmental changes that we are seeing are enormously disruptive in all kinds of ways so the reality from that is that it sort of opens up a mix of i guess opportunities risks and difficulties you know its a complicated picture people hike near thule air base march 25 2017 in pituffik greenland mario tamagetty images still trumps environmental policies are said to be exacerbating that picture especially rolling back regulations like fuel efficiency standards and waterway protections that will have longterm effects more specific to the arctic the administration has moved ahead with plans to open up onceprotected areas for oil and gas drilling including on twothirds of the nations largest piece of public land last month more greenland ice sheet loses 11 billion tons of water in one day amid historic heat the senior official said the administration is committed to helping scientists and researchers fully understand the impact and understand what is happening in the region so that communities there our citizens there can find solutions thats where the best work is going on right now that we can be fully 100 committed to the official added