Interior Wants 82 Percent Of National Petroleum Reserve To Drill On

The National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska was sitting idle by choice, not necessity. While Americans faced high energy costs, the Biden administration buried Alaska’s energy. Unleashing the NPR-A will power America and secure our future. https://t.co/Nl96SsF9cX

— Secretary Doug Burgum (@SecretaryBurgum) June 18, 2025

The Department of the Interior announced its previously announced plans to overturn protections for and utilize roughly 82 percent of Alaska’s wildlife-rich Natural Petroleum Reserve to drill on, despite plenty of pushback from those who feel like tapping into the public land could decimate the region’s caribou herds and those who rely on the resources there for subsistence use.

Here’s information from Interior’s Tuesday proposal:

Project Description

The BLM Alaska State Office has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) to evaluate new circumstances and information that have arisen since the publication of the 2020 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) Integrated Activity Plan Environmental Impact Statement (2020 IAP/EIS) to ensure that the environmental analysis previously conducted is sufficient or is updated and expanded upon, as appropriate. The BLM is undertaking this review of the 2020 IAP/EIS to determine the appropriate management of all BLM-managed lands in the NPR-A in a manner consistent with existing statutory direction, Executive Order (EO) 14153, and Secretary’s Order (SO) 3422.

What’s New

Pursuant to Executive Order 14153 and Secretary’s Order 3422, the BLM Alaska is taking steps to issue a new Integrated Activity Plan decision that aligns with its 2020 plan for managing the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. This new IAP, when finalized, would reopen up to 82% of the NPR-A to leasing, balancing Secretary’s responsibilities to provide for oil and gas leasing, exploration and development while protecting important surface resources in the reserve. In furtherance of this process, the BLM has been developing an environmental assessment (EA) that incorporates new information that has arisen since the publication of the 2020 IAP.

The BLM has now released the NPR-A IAP Draft EA for public comment. The comment period is initiated on June 17, 2025 and shall last for a period of 14 days, ending on July 1, 2025 at 9:59 pm AKDT. The BLM welcomes all substantive comments. 

Reaction to this latest salvo comes from the Alaska Native organization Grandmothers Growing Goodness and Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic:

Grandmothers Growing Goodness, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic Oppose Trump Administration’s Proposal to Sell Off 82% of the Western Arctic for Oil and Gas Drilling

(Nuiqsut, Alaska) — On Tuesday night, the Trump Administration’s Department of the Interior (DOI) released a proposal that would sell off 82% of the Western Arctic to the oil and gas industry. DOI will have only a two-week comment period for the public to weigh in on a proposal that could open almost 19 million acres of public lands to drilling. 

Since time immemorial, Alaska Native communities have lived in deep relationship with the Western Arctic, stewarding its lands and relying on its rich resources for food, culture, and survival. The Trump administration’s proposal would devastate critical habitat for caribou, endangered whales, polar bears, and migratory birds, and threaten the health, safety, and sovereignty of Indigenous communities who depend on this land.

Below are statements in response: 

“The Trump Administration’s proposal to sell off nearly all of the Western Arctic while only providing a two-week comment period for the public to respond silences our voices and treats our lives like bargaining chips for the oil and gas industry. Our leaders must stop treating the Arctic as a political pawn and start treating this region and all those who sustain and rely on it with respect. These plans for the Arctic are unpopular, unnecessary, and a waste of time and resources, and we demand that the Trump Administration leave our home alone. There are many more things this Administration could be focused on instead of attempting to sell off the Arctic over and over again through dangerous proposals,” said Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Executive Director of Grandmothers Growing Goodness.

“There is a coordinated effort to sell off the Arctic to polluting industries. From Congress’s attempts to mandate leasing in the Arctic and rescind critical protections for the Western Arctic, to the Trump Administration announcing just yesterday they want to sell off over 80% of the Western Arctic for drilling, these attacks put our lives on the line. Despite the Trump Administration’s plan to silence our voices by releasing only a two-week comment period on its reckless proposal, we will be making it loud and clear that this region is too special and too fragile for drilling,” said Nauri Simmonds, Executive Director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic.

The Trump Administration’s proposal would: 

• Guts existing protections: Revokes the current balanced plan that safeguards critical wildlife habitat and subsistence resources in Western Arctic “Special Areas,” replacing it with one that prioritizes oil and gas development above all else.
• Expands drilling across the Reserve: Opens an additional 7 million acres in the Western Arctic to leasing, bringing the total to 18.7 million acres, or 82% of the entire 22-million-acre Reserve.
• Targets Special Areas:
  • Fully opens Teshekpuk Lake Special Area—one of the most ecologically sensitive regions in the Arctic—to oil and gas activity, with only limited restrictions.
  • Eliminates the Colville River Special Area entirely.
  • Opens portions of the Utukok Uplands, Kasegaluk Lagoon, and Peard Bay Special Areas—all designated for their cultural and ecological importance—to industrial development.

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About Grandmothers Growing Goodness:

Grandmothers Growing Goodness is dedicated to protecting the environment and promoting the well-being of Indigenous communities in the Arctic.

About Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic

Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic’s mission is to create space for healthy communities, spiritually, mentally, and physically; fostering the connection between people, culture, and land. We are empowered as frontline communities and those who have an inherent connection with the land and what it provides.