The Trump administration is opening up 1.56 million acres of the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Oct. 23. Interior officials say the move complies with President Donald Trump’s directive to develop liquefied natural gas and other resources in Alaska, but environmental advocates criticized the large-scale program affecting pristine nature.
The new record of decision, which replaces another signed under the Biden administration last year, makes the entire Coastal Plain program area available for lease with fewer stipulations. Interior Department officials estimate that surface development would occur on 2,000 acres. The tax and spending package that Trump signed in July directs the interior secretary to hold at least four lease sales within 10 years.
“By reopening the Coastal Plain and advancing key infrastructure, we are strengthening energy independence, creating jobs and supporting Alaskan communities while driving economic growth across the state,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.
Interior is also restoring leases to the Alaska Export and Industrial Development Authority that were issued during the first Trump administration and canceled under the Biden administration. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that the Biden administration did not have the authority to cancel the leases. Environmental advocates denounced the action and raised questions about the plan’s viability after another late afternoon lease sale in the Biden administration drew no bids, although drilling advocates at the time said the auction had been too restrictive to be worth it. “These decisions are reckless, not economically viable, and will harm Alaska Native communities, their way of life, and Alaskan wildlife,” America Fitzpatrick, conservation program director for the League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement.
Map courtesy of the US Department of the InteriorThe refuge’s coastal plain is also a sacred area for the Gwich’in Nation, according to the advocacy group Earthjustice. The group also expressed concern about the impacts that drilling would have on the local environment, as well as the climate in general.
“The expansion of oil drilling in the Arctic threatens irreplaceable wildlife and cultural traditions that exist nowhere else in the world,” Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe said in a statement. “It exacerbates the climate crisis and undermines energy security by trying to block dependence on fossil fuels.”
Another group, Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, said it supports the drilling plan. Nathan Gordon Jr., the elder of Kaktovik, a community located inside the wildlife refuge, joined Voice to celebrate the administration’s decision.
“Development infrastructure taxation in our region funds essential services throughout the North Slope, including water and sewer systems to clinics, roads and first responders,” Gordon said in a statement.
Road projects
In addition to the drilling decision, Burgum announced a land swap with The King Cove Corp., an Alaska Native group, and the advancement of permits for the planned Ambler Road.
In the land swap, the US is giving up about 484 acres of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to King Cove for the construction of a two-way, single-lane gravel road connecting Cold Bay, another community with an all-weather airport.
Plans to build the 211-mile Ambler Highway for private access to mining claims are also moving forward. After Trump approved an appeal earlier this month and ordered permitting agencies to issue the necessary permits, Burgum said the Interior Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service reissued through permits for the project. The department also transferred 23,600 acres to Alaska to support the project.
The US Army Corps of Engineers is also moving to reinstate all necessary permits for Ambler Road, it announced on October 23. Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle said in a statement that the Corps is “moving quickly.”
