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The Trump administration is planning to open millions of acres in Alaska for new oil and gas development by rolling back a Biden-era rule that Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum says prioritized “obstruction over production.”
The announcement comes after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2024 “significantly expanded procedural requirements and created a presumption against oil and gas activity in approximately 13 million acres” of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska that were “designated as ‘Special Areas,’ unless operators could prove minimal or no adverse effects on surface resources,” according to the Department of the Interior.
The BLM has described the reserve as a “vast, approximately 23-million-acre area on Alaska’s North Slope” that was set aside by President Harding in 1923 as an “emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy” before its administration was transferred into the BLM’s hands about five decades later.
“Congress was clear: the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska was set aside to support America’s energy security through responsible development,” Burgum said in a statement. “The 2024 rule ignored that mandate, prioritizing obstruction over production and undermining our ability to harness domestic resources at a time when American energy independence has never been more critical. We’re restoring the balance and putting our energy future back on track.”
CONOCOPHILLIPS SUES BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OVER ALASKA DRILLING RESTRICTIONS
A part of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System runs through a boreal forest past the Alaska Range mountains in May 2023 near Delta Junction, Alaska. The 800-mile-long pipeline carries oil from the North Slope in Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez. (Mario Tama/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Last April, the BLM, when announcing the rule, said it “codifies protections for 13.3 million acres encompassed by the existing Special Areas, limiting future oil and gas leasing and industrial development in the Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok Uplands, Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon, and Peard Bay Special Areas – places collectively known for their globally significant intact habitat for wildlife, including grizzly and polar bears, caribou and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.”
The same month, then-President Joe Biden said “These natural wonders demand our protection” and that he is “proud that my Administration is taking action to conserve more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic and to honor the culture, history, and enduring wisdom of Alaska Natives who have lived on and stewarded these lands since time immemorial.”
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A map showing the location of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Areas in yellow are administered by the Bureau of Land Management. (Department of the Interior)
However, the Department of the Interior announced this week that, following a “thorough legal and policy review,” BLM officials concluded the rule “exceeds the agency’s statutory authority under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, conflicts with the Act’s purpose, and imposes unnecessary barriers to responsible energy development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.”
The Department of the Interior said the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act “mandates an ‘expeditious program of competitive leasing’ while balancing the protection of surface resources.”
“Rescinding the 2024 rule will remove regulations that are inconsistent with the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, restore the original intent of the Act for the management of the area, and eliminate roadblocks to responsible energy production,” it continued.
The vast National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. (U.S. Department of the Interior)
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“Under the proposed rule rescission, the BLM would revert to the regulations that were in place prior to May 7, 2024, which have long guided responsible development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska while incorporating protections for wildlife, subsistence and surface values through the Integrated Activity Plan process,” the Department of the Interior also said.