The Interior Department on Thursday said it will expand drilling opportunities for fossil fuels in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the neighboring National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to support President Donald Trump’s vision of “American energy dominance.”
Although response to lease offers has been tepid in the past, Secretary Doug Burgum said the actions would help exploit Alaska’s “abundant and largely untapped resources.”
“For far too long, the federal government has created too many barriers to capitalizing on the state’s energy potential,” Burgum said in a statement. “Interior is committed to recognizing the central role the State of Alaska plays in meeting our nation’s energy needs, while providing tremendous economic opportunity for Alaskans.”
These actions implement a Jan. 20 executive order and a Feb. 3 order from Burgum, the department said.
The announcements include making available as much as 82 percent of the land in the NPR-A to leasing and energy development primarily by reversing protections that the Biden administration established for 13.3 million acres of the 26 million acres in the reserve managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
A 1976 law requires the Interior Department to continue leasing in the area while protecting portions of the reserve with wildlife, scenic or historical value, or areas used for subsistence. The Biden administration used these provisions to expand protected areas, but the Trump administration said its plan would “balance the secretary’s responsibilities” while protecting surface resources.
Thursday’s actions are the latest in a long-standing tug of war over drilling in Alaska.
“The Sierra Club and its millions of members and supporters across the country stand with the Gwich’in and Alaska Natives in opposing these actions,” Ben Jealous, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement. “We will do everything in our power to stop the giveaway and preserve our wild and special places for the next generation.”
However, while some Alaska Natives oppose development in these areas, others support the administration’s actions. Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, a nonprofit whose members include local governments, tribes and Alaska Native corporations, had previously celebrated Trump’s executive order, saying it supports their self-determination and local economy.
As part of the actions, the Interior Department will reinstate a program that makes the entire 1.56 million-acre coastal plain of ANWR available for oil and natural gas leasing.
The 2017 Republican tax overhaul included a provision that required two lease sales for that region. However, the lease sale held by the Trump administration in 2021 drew little interest, while the 2025 sale held by the Biden administration produced no bids. The Congressional Budget Office had estimated the two sales would generate $1 billion.
Supporters of drilling in the region argue that the Biden administration acted to make development in the region unattractive. However, renewed efforts to attract interest might be blocked by factors unrelated to who controls the White House, such as difficulties securing financing for projects in an often inhospitable area to develop.
The department also revoked actions that withdrew land along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline corridor and the Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River from consideration for development. This would allow the department to convey the land to the state to support a Alaska liquefied natural gas pipeline and the Ambler Access Project.
The latter would entail the construction of a road that is considered necessary by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state-owned economic development entity, for developing commercial mining in a mineral-rich but isolated region of the state. The Biden administration rejected it because there were no active mines in the area and no proposals pending before the federal government.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, celebrated the announcement during a speech before a joint session of Alaska’s Legislature, referring to it as a reversal of Biden administration policies he criticized as those of “arrogant federal landlords.”
“President Trump understands that Alaska is the key to restoring American energy dominance, and I stand ready to work with his Administration to continue fighting for Alaska,” Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, said in a statement.
