The Step-by-Step Plan to Sell Off the Arctic, and What You Can Do About It

In a series of recent moves, the Trump administration and Congress have waged an all-out assault on the Arctic, aiming to maximize drilling across the entire region.

Last month, the Interior Department opened the entire coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing and advanced similar plans in the Western Arctic. At the same time, pro-fossil fuel lawmakers are moving to strip protections across both regions.

While the scale and pace of these attacks can feel overwhelming, we still have opportunities to speak up and push back. It’s imperative that we continue to do so: What we do today helps grow support to defend these treasured public lands in Alaska’s Arctic.

Here’s a roadmap of what Congress and the Trump administration are planning, and what you can do to stop it.

What is Congress doing?

Lawmakers in Congress are trying to use a loophole called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to undo previous safeguards for Arctic lands and wildlife habitats.

If these CRA resolutions succeed, they will nullify protections and current management plans for the Western Arctic and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, paving the way for expansive oil and gas drilling.

One of the CRA resolutions passed the Senate; the other still needs to pass the Senate, and if they pass the House of Representatives too, the President next has to sign them into law.

What you can do:

Call Congress and tell them to protect the Arctic.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Brooks Range mountains, Alaska. (Patrick J. Endres / Getty Images)

What is the Trump Administration Doing?

In tandem with the Congressional attack on the Arctic, the Trump administration is also moving to strip existing protections and put maximum drilling in place.

In the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:

• Opening the coastal plain: The Department of the Interior issued a final decision on Oct. 23 aimed at maximizing drilling in the Refuge, including opening the entire 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing.
• Reinstatement of unlawful leases in the Refuge: The Interior Department also reinstated unlawful leases for oil and gas drilling covering about 370,000 acres within the Coastal Plain.

Arctic Ocean

Beaufort
Sea

Nuiqsut

Chukchi
Sea

Prudhoe Bay

Coastal Plain

Teshepuk Lake

Western Arctic(National Petroleum
Reserve-Alaska)

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Russia

Arctic Circle

Canada

Alaska

Bering
Sea

Gulf of
Alaska

Peter Hoey for Earthjustice

The Western Arctic (also called the "National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska" or NPR-A) is home to many millions of acres of specially designated lands because of their ecological and cultural importance. This includes Teshekpuk Lake, a wetlands area critical for migratory birds from around the world.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the country’s largest national refuge and home to diverse wildlife and Indigenous communities. Within the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain are the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd.

In the Western Arctic:

• Stripping Western Arctic special protections: The Interior Department is expected to soon finalize a repeal of protections for ecologically sensitive special areas in the Western Arctic. More than 52,000 Earthjustice supporters sent in comments opposing this repeal.
• New expansive management plan allowing more drilling: In June, the Interior Department released a draft analysis to reinstate a 2020 plan that would open 82% of the Reserve — the largest tract of public lands in the US — to oil and gas drilling. More than 22,000 Earthjustice supporters submitted comments, and we’re awaiting a final action from the department.

In the Arctic Ocean:

According to a leaked plan for offshore drilling, the administration also plans to offer offshore oil leases in the Arctic Ocean as early as next year, where drilling would risk catastrophic oil spills in icy waters that could not be contained.

What you can do:

Interior Secretary Burgum has the power to halt these reckless policies — urge him to prioritize environmental protection over corporate profits.

Caribou in the Western Arctic, near the Lake Teshekpuk area. (Kiliii Yuyan for Earthjustice)

What are fossil fuel companies doing?

Oil companies are simultaneously beginning to ramp up exploratory drilling and seismic work in both the Western Arctic and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This indicates that oil companies are moving ahead planning for work that will cause serious and potentially irreparable on-the-ground harm starting as early as this winter.

Exploratory seismic work is not benign. To figure out where to drill, companies use 90,000-pound vehicles called “thumper trucks” that pound the tundra to generate shockwaves deep into the earth for exploration. Tragically, thumper trucks can crush undetected polar bear dens, killing the mother and her cubs.

Lease sales are on the way, too. Over the next 10 years, the budget reconciliation bill mandated four lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (at least 400,000 acres each) and five lease sales in Western Arctic (at least 4 million acres each).

What you can do:

The Department of the Interior is now requesting comments on which areas of the Western Arctic it should lease for oil and gas development. Submit a comment and tell them nowhere in the Arctic.

Snowy owls in the Western Arctic. Earthjustice has fought for decades on multiple fronts to protect this irreplaceable region. (Kiliii Yuyan for Earthjustice)

What is Earthjustice doing?

Earthjustice has spent decades fighting in court to keep oil and gas interests from destroying the Arctic and fighting fossil fuels that are driving the climate crisis. We have a significant track record of success in court protecting the Arctic:

• We succeeded in stopping the first Trump administration from opening 128 million acres of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans to offshore drilling.
• In 2022, an Earthjustice lawsuit helped halt the Peregrine exploration project, which could have produced 1.6 billion barrels of oil and released carbon emissions equal to 170 coal-fired power plants operating for a year.
• In 2013, we helped win federal protections for some of the most ecologically important wetlands in the Arctic, including Teshekpuk Lake, protecting them from drilling for over a decade.

We will continue this fight and stand ready to defend against unlawful actions. Your donations today keep us in court tomorrow.