The government shutdown has not stopped the Trump administration from pursuing its goals for multiple Alaska projects despite plenty of pushback. Today, the Department of the Interior released the following regarding a controversial land swamp that would allow for a road to be built through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge (part of several pending projects that are being fought by conservation, environmental and Native groups:

Interior Takes Bold Steps to Expand Energy, Local Control and Land Access in Alaska 

10/23/2025

ANCHORAGE — During an event with Alaska’s congressional delegation and Alaska’s governor, the Department of the Interior announced a sweeping package of actions to boost energy development, modernize land and resource management across Alaska, and improve public health and safety for Alaskans. These steps include reopening the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing, completing right-of-way permits for the Ambler Road, moving forward with the King Cove–Cold Bay Road corridor through a land exchange, and providing land allotments for eligible Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans. Together, these actions reduce regulatory barriers, support local communities, and strengthen Alaska’s role in national energy security and economic growth. 

“From day one, President Trump directed us to unlock Alaska’s energy and resource potential while honoring commitments to the state and local communities,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “By reopening the Coastal Plain and advancing key infrastructure, we are strengthening energy independence, creating jobs and supporting Alaska’s communities while driving economic growth across the state.” 

Oil and Gas Leasing 

The Coastal Plain of Alaska holds some of the most promising untapped energy resources in the United States and plays a critical role in strengthening national energy security. The Department has issued a new record of decision reopening 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing—reversing the previous administration’s 2024 plan that restricted development to the statutory minimum. This action fulfills the direction of  Executive Order 14153, Secretarial Order 3422,  the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Department is also restoring leases to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, allowing development to move forward. The leases were cancelled by the previous administration in a decision later overturned by the courts. 

Additionally, the Bureau of Land Management published a call for nominations to solicit feedback on what tracts should be made available in an oil and gas lease sale within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska this coming winter. The lease sale, which is directed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will mark the first in the 23-million-acre reserve since 2019. 

Ambler Road 

Following President Trump’s approval of the appeal filed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service have reissued the necessary right of way permits for the establishment of the Ambler Road Project. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit has also been reissued. Additionally, the Department has conveyed nearly 23,600 acres near Ambler to the State of Alaska, completing the state’s selections in the area and advancing local control over land use and resource development and supporting local decision-making and economic growth. 

Izembek and King Cove Land Exchange 

For nearly 50 years, the community of King Cove, Alaska has advocated for a life-saving road to connect King Cove to the Cold Bay airport to address their critical public health and safety needs. Pursuant to the land exchange agreement and accompanying decision document, signed by the Department of the Interior, an official patent was issued to the King Corporation conveying lands from within Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The exchange advances a decades-long effort to provide reliable access to emergency medical care for King Cove residents while increasing subsistence access and the number of wilderness acres to protect important wildlife and habitat in the region. 

Land Allotments for Alaskan Vietnam Veterans 

The Department is highlighting opportunities for eligible Alaska Native Vietnam-era veterans to apply for up to 160 acres of federal land they were unable to claim while serving their country.  

During today’s event, the Bureau of Land Management issued three Certificates of Allotment under the Alaska Native Vietnam-era Veterans Land Allotment Program, awarding 160 acres each to three deserving Alaska Native veterans of the Vietnam war. Established under the 2019 Dingell Act, the program allows eligible Alaska Native veterans who served between 1964 and 1971 to claim federal land without proof of prior occupancy. Applications remain open until Dec. 29, 2025. 

Together, these actions highlight the Trump administration’s commitment to responsible energy development, fulfilling statutory obligations and improving Alaskan’s quality of life. They demonstrate Interior’s continued focus on reducing regulatory barriers, expanding domestic energy production, supporting local economies, and securing Alaska’s role in fueling America’s energy and economic security. 

For reaction to this latest turn in another hot-button Alaska issue, Here’s a statement from the Center for Biological Diversity:

Trump Administration OKs Destructive Land Swap for Alaska’s Izembek Refuge

Heart of Refuge, Vital Habitat for Migratory Bird Species Threatened

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— The Trump administration today approved a deal trading away federal lands to pave the way for building a road through the center of Alaska’s Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

The deal would privatize federal refuge lands and reverse decisions made by previous administrations concerned that the trade would cause irreparable harm to Izembek’s ecosystem and wildlife. The refuge provides an essential stopover for millions of migratory birds, including birds that are an important cultural resource for Alaska Native Tribes elsewhere in the state.

“I worry every day about what’s going to happen to the brant and emperor geese if there’s a road in Izembek,” said Chief Edgar Tall Sr. of the Native Village of Hooper Bay. “We need the brant and emperor geese because they’re nutritious and fatty from feeding in Izembek. Our people hunt these birds together so we can learn from each other and teach our children how to hunt and take care of the land. But it’s getting harder and harder to survive off the land and the sea because there’s stronger storms and so much climate change that’s affecting the wildlife. If the birds disappear because of the Izembek road, our community could disappear too. I just want the government to know that, but they don’t listen us.”

Izembek contains internationally renowned wetlands, which provide essential habitat for vulnerable migratory birds, including species like Pacific black brant, emperor geese, and endangered Steller’s eider.

These birds depend on Izembek’s vast eelgrass beds as a stopover and feeding ground on their migratory journeys to and from other parts of Alaska. Pacific black brant and emperor geese continue on to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, where they are essential to the food security, health and culture of many Alaska Native communities.

“With the ravages of Typhoon Halong still fresh in the minds and hearts of the far-reaching, intertwined network of Yup’ik families and communities of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Southwestern rural Alaska, the timing of this Izembek decision couldn’t be more pertinent,” said Angutekaraq Estelle Thomson, Traditional Council President of the Native Village of Paimiut. “To see the Izembek land exchange back in the news, while Alaska is still reeling from this most recent climate change-induced heartbreak, is disheartening and anger-inducing. Surely, the people of King Cove can see the value of leaving the habitat for so many species intact would be far more valuable than any road could be. The Trump administration greenlighting further development projects in Alaska does far more than provide accessibility for a small community of people. It sets a dangerous precedent for other protected areas in our already vulnerable state and in this country. The floodwaters have already reached us…your community may not feel it today or tomorrow, but you will feel the impacts.”

The Native Village of Hooper Bay, the Native Village of Paimiut and many other Tribes and Tribal organizations in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region and across the state have passed resolutions opposing the land swap, citing severe harm to migratory birds and subsistence ways of life.

Izembek is also home to other wildlife species, including grizzly bears, caribou, salmon, sea otters and sea lions. The refuge has one of the largest carbon-storing eelgrass beds in the world. Prior administrations concluded repeatedly that bulldozing a road through Izembek would cause permanent harm to wildlife habitat and is not in the public interest.

Today’s approved land swap will exchange approximately 500 acres of ecologically irreplaceable wilderness lands within the refuge for a maximum of 1,739 acres of King Cove Corporation lands currently outside the refuge.

“Building a road through Izembek is a profoundly bad idea that will wreak havoc on one of the planet’s most important migratory bird sanctuaries,” said Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “There are far safer and more reliable options to connect King Cove and Cold Bay that won’t destroy Izembek’s bird habitat. Carving a road through irreplaceable eelgrass beds defies both common sense and conservation, and trading away refuge lands for road development sets a dangerous precedent that puts more than a hundred million acres of Alaska conservation lands at risk. Once this door is opened, every national park, monument and refuge in Alaska becomes unacceptably vulnerable.”

The Native Village of Hooper Bay and other Tribes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region have repeatedly requested to meet with decisionmakers on Izembek and to have their perspectives included in the process. Those requests have been denied or left unanswered.

The Center for Biological Diversity and other conservation organizations have opposed the Izembek land swap and road for decades because of the harm they would cause to the refuge and the concerning precedent this deal would set for all public lands across Alaska.

See the full statement from the Native Village of Paimiut here.

More reaction here, starting with the Sierra Club:

Sierra Club Statement on Trump Administration’s Alaska Lands Giveaway

October 23, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced a series of decisions that increase threats to Alaska landscapes, wildlife, and local communities. 

In a brief ceremony with members of Alaska’s congressional delegation and governor, Burgum announced a decision opening vast swaths of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, along with formal approvals for two controversial road-building proposals, one cutting across one of our most well-preserved national parks and one through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The department transferred nearly 23,600 acres of national public lands to the state of Alaska as part of the Ambler Road decision. 

The Arctic Refuge decision repeals the Record of Decision (ROD) for the leasing program in the Refuge issued by the previous administration. Burgum also announced Interior would make the entire Coastal Plain, the ecological heart of the Refuge, open for oil and gas development. The Arctic Refuge is one of the largest areas of intact public lands in the United States. Its lands and waters support hundreds of species and fragile ecosystems, and the Gwich’in people rely on it to support their subsistence way of life. The Gwich’in, who have called the region home for centuries, refer to it as “the sacred place where life begins.”

Earlier this month, Donald Trump signed an executive order advancing the controversial Ambler mining road, which will cut a 211-mile commercial corridor across some of the country’s wildest lands, including a section through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, and impact more than sixty Alaska Native villages.

The Izembek decision will allow a new land exchange between the Department of the Interior and King Cove Corporation to cut a road through the heart of the Izembek Refuge. This plan allows for limitless use of the road, which threatens to disturb fragile ecosystems and wildlife populations. 

In response, Dan Ritzman, Director of Conservation at Sierra Club, released the following statement:

“Today’s announcements are the latest step in Donald Trump’s plan to sell out our wildest landscape and natural heritage to corporate polluters. Alaska Natives have called these landscapes home since time immemorial, and wildlife rely on them to survive and thrive. These decisions will collectively wreak havoc on fragile Alaska ecosystems in the most disruptive way possible, causing long-term environmental damage, all to boost the bottom lines of CEOs. The Sierra Club and its millions of members and supporters across the country stand with the Gwich’in and Alaska Native communities to oppose these actions, and we will work to keep these landscapes protected, not polluted.”

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.