Despite Government Shutdown, Trump Administration Pursuing New Alaska Arctic Drilling Lease Sale

Despite the government shutdown, the Trump administration’s Department of the Interior is still pursuing a 30-day comment period of its hopes opening up millions of acres of Alaska public land for sale to oil companies.

Here are some details from the Alaska Beacon:

Under the Trump rules, more than 18.5 million of the reserve’s 23 million acres are designated as available for leasing. That includes the ecologically sensitive Teshekpuk Lake, the largest lake on the North Slope, which is important habitat for migratory birds and which is adjacent to the calving grounds for the Teshekpuk caribou herd.

Lease sales in the reserve were held about every two years from 1999 to 2010 and annually from 2011 through 2019, but with protections for certain areas, including Teshekpuk Lake.

The Obama administration had a policy of coordinating those federal auctions with the annual areawide North Slope, Beaufort Sea and Brooks Range Foothills sales held by the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas. Coordinated timing on those enhanced industry interest and convenience, agency officials said at the time.

As many government institutions have stopped communications during the shutdown, the Interior Department today released its intentions for the lease sale after news began to broke on Tuesday. Here are some details of those plans:

SUMMARY:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Alaska State Office is issuing a call for nominations and comments on all available unleased tracts for the upcoming National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska (NPR-A) 2025 Oil and Gas Lease Sale. This is a standard step in the leasing process as BLM prepares to hold the first NPR-A lease sale since 2019 and the first lease sale under direction in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This action also advances priorities in the Executive Order, Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential, and the associated Secretary’s Order of the same name.

DATES:

BLM Alaska must receive all nominations and comments on these tracts for consideration on or before November 21, 2025.

ADDRESSES:

Nominations and/or comments should be mailed or emailed to: State Director, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office, 222 West 7th Avenue, #13, Anchorage, AK 99513-7504; Email: BLM_AKSO_AK932_AKLeasesales@blm.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Wayne Svejnoha, BLM Alaska Energy and Minerals Branch Chief, Alaska State Office, 222 West 7th Avenue, #13, Anchorage, AK 99513; telephone 907-271-4407.

Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for contacting Mr. Wright. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.

Here’s some reaction from the Center For Biological Diversity:

“The Trump government clearly isn’t shut down for the oil industry, with millions upon millions of Alaska’s western Arctic recklessly open for exploitation and desecration,” said Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We can’t let this administration destroy key habitat for cherished wildlife like caribou, polar bears and millions of migratory birds for nothing more than stuffing oil barons’ pockets.”

And a little more social media reaction: