The Trump administration plans to allow oil and gas leasing across the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) coastal plain, ending over four decades of protection, according to documents reviewed by POLITICO.
Officials expect the Interior Department to announce the decision later this month, though the government shutdown could delay it. The move would fulfill Donald Trump’s 2017 promise to expand energy production on Alaska’s North Slope. It also continues a ten-year regulatory battle over drilling in the 1.56-million-acre tundra that President Biden later paused during his term.
The Interior Department will also reinstate seven leases that Alaska acquired in 2021 before Trump left office. The Biden administration had previously canceled them, but the new decision reverses that action.
Environmental groups and Alaska Native tribes are expected to file lawsuits to block the plan. Meanwhile, oil companies must decide whether to invest in drilling amid low crude prices and industry layoffs at ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.
Environmentalists Condemn Plan, Native Groups Support Development
Kristen Miller, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, denounced the plan in an email.
“Opening the coastal plain would destroy one of the most vital ecosystems on Earth,” she said. “This area supports the Porcupine caribou herd, polar bears, migratory birds, and the Gwich’in people, who have protected it for generations.”
She accused the administration of trying to undermine environmental safeguards across Alaska and the western United States.
However, North Slope communities that rely on oil revenue support the move. Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, backed by the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, endorsed responsible development.
“We stand with Kaktovik, the only community within ANWR,” said Nagruk Harcharek, the group’s president. “We will keep promoting economic growth, Indigenous self-determination, and cultural preservation.”
A Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spokesperson declined to comment on the proposal.
The administration also plans to repeal a Biden-era rule protecting 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve west of the refuge. Lease sales for both the coastal plain and NPRA could occur before the end of the year, according to an Interior Department source.
Political History and Economic Stakes of the Arctic Refuge
The coastal plain, part of the largest wildlife refuge in North America, has sparked political battles since its creation under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. The law allowed Congress to approve drilling, setting off decades of debate over energy development versus conservation.
In 2017, Senator Lisa Murkowski added a provision to Trump’s tax bill requiring at least two lease sales in the coastal plain, which passed by a single vote. Trump’s first attempt to launch drilling faltered due to lawsuits and weak industry interest. The 2021 lease sale attracted only three bidders, mostly from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA).
After taking office, President Biden paused the program for an environmental review and canceled AIDEA’s leases, a move later overturned in court. A revised 2024 impact statement limited leasing to 400,000 acres and added strict rules for caribou calving zones. The second lease sale under Biden drew no bidders.
Now, Trump’s team aims to expand drilling across Alaska’s North Slope, citing vast untapped oil reserves. On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order to reverse Biden’s decision and reopen the entire coastal plain for leasing.
A budget bill passed in July requires at least four lease sales in the region over the next ten years, ensuring that the battle over Alaska’s Arctic frontier will once again test the balance between economic ambition and environmental protection.
