U.S. Interior to Reopen Over 80 Percent of Alaska Petroleum Reserve for oil and Gas Development

The U.S. Interior Department on June 17 announced it is taking action to issue a new Integrated Activity Plan that aligns with its 2020 plan for managing the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. A draft analysis issued for public comment supports a new alternative that would reopen up to 82 percent of the reserve to gas and oil leasing and development, in line with the Trump administration’s energy dominance agenda.

The draft environmental assessment consists of the latest accessible data and underpins the executive order “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” to maximize the development and production of natural resources located on both federal and state lands within Alaska.

The department and bureau will also attempt to reinstate a program that makes the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge accessible for oil and gas leasing. Moreover, they will aim to rescind withdrawals along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River, so that these lands can be conveyed to the state. This step would help advance the proposed Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline and Ambler Road projects.

The proposed plan also builds on the department’s initiative to reverse burdensome laws, such as the planned rescission of the 2024 rule that constrained leasing in the reserve, so that the U.S. can fulfill current and future energy requirements.

Comments on the draft analysis are due by July 1, 2025.