The Trump Administration Plans New Oil and Gas Leases in the Western Arctic — and Will Soon Finalize a Rule Repealing Protections

The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) today took the first step towards leasing millions of acres of public land in the Western Arctic to oil and gas companies for drilling. The agency issued a notice requesting feedback about which of the more than 18-million acres potentially open to oil and gas development it should offer for lease this winter. The official notice will be published tomorrow, October 22, in the Federal Register.  

DOI also provided notice this week about finalizing its repeal of a 2024 rule that provided important protections for ecologically and culturally significant Special Areas within the Western Arctic.   

These actions aimed at maximizing oil-and-gas drilling in the Western Arctic are a precursor to new oil and gas development across the region. Opening vast tracts of public lands in the Arctic to  drilling was a priority of the first Trump administration – and is again rising to the top of the agenda, even as the federal government remains shut down and residents in western Alaska contend with the aftermath of Typhoon Halong which devastated several coastal communities and caused mass evacuations. Coastal storms like those that just swept through the region have become more frequent, more intense, and more destructive due to the loss of sea ice, warmer ocean temperatures, coastal erosion, and rising sea levels attributed to climate change. 

“We’ve known these actions to increase drilling were coming, and we’re prepared to fight them, but it’s still appalling to see this senseless push to exploit our public lands and destroy the climate for the benefit of oil and gas companies – at the expense of the rest of us,” said Earthjustice Attorney Jeremy Lieb. “It is even more shocking to see this administration prioritizing its work on behalf of the oil companies with so many hard-working federal employees working without pay or out of work due to the ongoing government shutdown. And also while Alaskans affected by the disaster are still reeling and collective efforts are focused on supporting displaced community members. Right now, the federal government has actual emergencies it should be prioritizing. Giving away public land to drill for unneeded oil isn’t one of them.”  

Background 

Offering new leases and repealing protections for the Western Arctic in Northern Alaska is only the beginning. The budget reconciliation bill mandated at least five lease sales in the Western Arctic over the next 10 years, with the first sale required within one year of the bill’s passage. The Trump administration also plans to maximize oil leasing by re-adopting a management plan from President Trump’s first term that vastly increases the land available in the Western Arctic for oil production. These actions will open most of the Western Arctic to drilling, including some of the most sensitive areas like Teshekpuk Lake, endangering the Western Arctic’s wildlife and our climate. 

The Western Arctic is the largest single tract of public land in the United States and remains largely undeveloped; it provides essential wildlife habitat and is critical for the traditional subsistence practices of local people. The protections the Trump administration is preparing to repeal were enacted after a lengthy public process that spanned nearly 10 months and resulted in more than 250,000 people calling for more Western Arctic lands to be protected from oil and gas development under the law. 

The Trump administration has also stated that it intends to open the entire 1.56 million acres of coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing by enacting regulations to repeal the previous drilling plan for the Refuge and reinstate a previous Trump administration plan. A Congressional Review Act resolution introduced last week by Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) aims to accomplish the same thing – overturning the Biden administration’s previous Record of Decision for oil and gas leasing on the Refuge’s Coastal Plan – but through different means. The budget reconciliation also mandates at least four new lease sales in the Refuge, and six more in Alaska’s Cook Inlet over the next decade.