Potus, Interior Kickstarts Plans To Drill Offshore From Alaska; With Some Reaction (Updating)
More drilling could be a thing in Alaska, this time in waters off the coast. Here’s the Department of the Interior’s press release:
Interior Launches Expansive 11th National Offshore Leasing Program to Advance U.S. Energy Dominance
11/20/2025
Secretary Signs Order to Unleash American Offshore Energy
WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior today announced a Secretary’s Order titled “Unleashing American Offshore Energy,” directing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to take the necessary steps, in accordance with federal law, to terminate the restrictive Biden 2024–2029 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program and replace it with a new, expansive 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program by October 2026. As part of this directive, the Department is releasing the Secretary’s Draft Proposed Program for the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
These actions reflect the Trump administration’s continued commitment to restoring American Energy Dominance by replacing the smallest offshore leasing plan ever published by an administration with one that fully addresses the nation’s growing energy needs.
“Offshore oil and gas production does not happen overnight. It takes years of planning, investment, and hard work before barrels reach the market,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “The Biden administration slammed the brakes on offshore oil and gas leasing and crippled the long-term pipeline of America’s offshore production. By moving forward with the development of a robust, forward-thinking leasing plan, we are ensuring that America’s offshore industry stays strong, our workers stay employed, and our nation remains energy dominant for decades to come.”
Under the new proposal for the 2026–2031 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, Interior is taking a major step to boost United States energy independence and sustain domestic oil and gas production. The proposal includes as many as 34 potential offshore lease sales across 21 of 27 existing Outer Continental Shelf planning areas, covering approximately 1.27 billion acres. That includes 21 areas off the coast of Alaska, seven in the Gulf of America, and six along the Pacific coast. The proposal also includes the Secretary’s decision to create a new administrative planning area, the South-Central Gulf of America.
“Offshore oil and gas development requires long-term vision, steady policy, and the confidence for companies to invest in American energy. For years, that confidence was undercut by the Biden Administration’s failed leasing policies,” said Jarrod Agen, Executive Director of the National Energy Dominance Council. “By putting a real leasing plan back on track, we’re restoring energy security, protecting American jobs, and strengthening the nation’s ability to lead on energy for decades to come.
This action implements Executive Order 14154 and supplements Secretary’s Order 3418, both titled “Unleashing American Energy.” The orders instruct all Interior Department bureaus and offices to accelerate responsible energy development consistent with federal law. By replacing the failed Biden-era plan with a robust and competitive offshore leasing program, the Department will open new opportunities for offshore investment and job creation, reinforce America’s role as a global energy leader, and help ensure a stable and secure energy supply well into the future.
Under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Secretary of the Interior must prepare a national program that identifies the size, timing, and location of potential lease sales to best meet the country’s energy needs while considering economic, environmental, and social factors.
The current proposal follows a public request for information and comment published in April 2025. The Department received more than 86,000 comments from stakeholders, states, industry representatives, and members of the public. Feedback from those comments informed the proposal released today.
Before the program and individual lease sales are finalized, the public will have multiple opportunities to provide input. The Department encourages broad participation in the upcoming 60-day public comment period, which will begin when the proposal is published in the Federal Register on November 24, 2025.
As of September 1, 2025, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management manages 2,073 active offshore oil and gas leases covering about 11.2 million acres. Offshore production accounts for roughly 15 percent of the nation’s domestic oil output. The Outer Continental Shelf is estimated to contain about 68.8 billion barrels of oil and 229 trillion cubic feet of natural gas yet to be discovered.
Today’s announcement marks the first of three proposals that will be developed before final approval of the 2026–2031 program. Inclusion of a planning area in this proposal does not guarantee that it will be included in the final program or offered for lease. Each lease sale will undergo additional review, environmental analysis, and opportunities for public comment.
For more information and to view maps of the proposed areas, visit www.boem.gov/National-Program.
Reaction starts with a statement from the Center for Biological Diversity’s Alaska director Cooper Freeman:
“This plan is an absolute nightmare for Alaska’s marine life and coastal communities,” said Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Every inch of Alaska’s oceans are now under threat of devastating oil spills. The Trump administration clearly doesn’t understand how deeply connected Alaskans are to healthy fish and marine mammal populations. I expect fierce resistance from a great many Alaskans who don’t want our amazing oceans and coasts put at grave risk for oil industry profits.”
The Sierra Club also released a statement:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Trump administration announced a sprawling new offshore drilling plan that vastly expands controversial oil extraction off America’s coasts.
In a secretarial order titled “Unleashing American Offshore Energy,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to scrap existing plans managing offshore drilling in American coastal waters and institute a more permissive plan that expands drilling. A 60-day comment period on the proposed plan will begin on November 24.
The new plan calls for expanded drilling in 21 areas off the coast of Alaska, the Gulf, and the California coast. It also includes controversial drilling plans in the eastern Gulf off the coast of Florida, referred to as a new administrative planning area, the “South-Central Gulf of America.” In total, the new plan opens approximately 1.27 billion acres to drilling.
Polling indicates Americans prefer protections for coastal waters over drilling, with two-thirds of American voters supporting protections for U.S. coastlines from new offshore drilling. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle have also opposed offshore drilling in California and Florida. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said expanded offshore drilling off the state’s coasts is “dead on arrival,” while Florida Gov. Ren DeSantis signed an executive order opposing “all off-shore oil and gas activities off every coast in Florida.”
Offshore drilling is a risky practice that threatens coastal waters, ecosystems, and economies. Mishaps can result in spills that take years and billions of dollars to clean up. Even project development can be disastrous for imperiled wildlife, like the critically endangered Rice’s whale.
In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Loren Blackford released the following statement:
“Donald Trump and Doug Burgum are once again trying to sell out our coastal communities and our public waters in favor of corporate polluters’ bottom line. Americans across the political spectrum have made it clear they oppose offshore drilling. We know the risks are far too great, threatening ecosystems and coastal economies with the risk of spills that would take decades to clean up.
“Despite overwhelming bipartisan opposition, Trump and Burgum are moving forward with their reckless plan to serve their ultimate goal of handing over our public lands and waters to Big Oil CEOs. These lease sales are privatization in everything but name – a ‘keep out’ sign is the same whether an area was sold or leased. The Sierra Club will continue to stand with coastal communities and work to stop this reckless plan dead in the water.”
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.
Update: Here’s more reaction from various organizations:
Broad Coalition Condemns Trump Administration’s Plans to Expand Offshore Drilling Off U.S. Coasts
New Plan Proposes 34 Lease Sales, Inviting Oil + Gas Industry to Hoard Leases and Make Profits at Taxpayer Expense
(NATIONWIDE) – President Trump’s Interior Department just released a draft offshore drilling plan that proposes 34 oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and California. This offshore drilling plan includes areas where oil and gas drilling has never happened before and places where lease sales have not been held for decades. There will be a 60-day comment period for the public to weigh in on the draft plan.
The majority of Americans across the political spectrum oppose offshore drilling. Elected officials – from both Democratic and Republican parties – have expressedopposition to the plan. During Trump’s first presidency, his Administration tried to open every U.S. coastline to drilling, but the public backlash was so widespread that they reversed course in several states.
Coastal economies generate billions of dollars in revenue and support millions of jobs in industries such as tourism, fishing, and recreation. Almost all offshore drilling in the U.S. — 99 percent of it — takes place in the Gulf, with the rest happening off the coast of Alaska. Communities in both regions have been burdened with ongoing harm to public health, ways of life, and their environments. Communities in the Gulf are still recovering and suffering from the BP Horizon oil spill disaster, which cost over $60 billion in clean-up costs.
Holding more lease sales will primarily benefit oil and gas speculators, rather than American taxpayers. The most productive public waters are already leased, and conducting additional sales in areas with no interest in drilling will only waste the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s time and generate little revenue for taxpayers, while BOEM continues failing to enforce the oil and gas industry’s obligations to decommission aging offshore oil and gas wells and platforms in public waters.
Below are statements in response:
“Our country continues to use the Gulf of Mexico as a sacrifice zone to the oil and gas industry. The Trump Administration’s plan to open areas in the eastern Gulf off of Florida, which have been protected under previous moratoriums, is reckless and dangerous for our working waterfronts, endangered species, and vital tourism,” said Martha Collins, Executive Director for Healthy Gulf. “Our communities, our visitors, and our wildlife in Florida do not deserve the history of neglect that the oil and gas industry has left in the Gulf.”
“Adding 21 areas off Alaska’s coast in the offshore plan isn’t just misguided, it is a dangerous gamble with irreplaceable public waters and communities that rely on them,”said Emma Powell, Federal Advocacy Manager at Alaska Wilderness League. “Industry walked away from Arctic waters decades ago because even they weren’t comfortable with the risks associated with Arctic Ocean drilling and now is not the time to reopen that door. An oil spill in the Arctic Ocean would be nothing short of apocalyptic for coastal communities, irreplaceable wildlife, and the climate. This leasing program should not move forward.”
“There’s a reason that hundreds of communities and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in our region vehemently opposed offshore drilling when it was first proposed – the threats of oil spills to our communities, ecosystems, and economies are too great to risk. We share the deep concerns of communities in the Gulf and elsewhere that face the possibility of disastrous pollution from offshore drilling.” Megan Huynh, Leader of the Wetlands and Coasts Program, Southern Environmental Law Center.
“Donald Trump and Doug Burgum are once again trying to sell out our coastal communities and our public waters in favor of corporate polluters’ bottom line,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Loren Blackford. “Americans across the political spectrum have made it clear they oppose offshore drilling. We know the risks are far too great, threatening ecosystems and coastal economies with the risk of spills that would take decades to clean up. Despite overwhelming bipartisan opposition, Trump and Burgum are moving forward with their reckless plan to serve their ultimate goal of handing over our public lands and waters to Big Oil CEOs. These lease sales are privatization in everything but name – a ‘keep out’ sign is the same whether an area was sold or leased. The Sierra Club will continue to stand with coastal communities and work to stop this reckless plan dead in the water.”
“The Trump administration is threatening to impose offshore oil drilling on states, cities, and communities that have fought against it for decades,” said Earthjustice senior attorney Brettny Hardy. “Trump’s plan would risk the health and well-being of millions of people who live along our coasts. It would also devastate countless ocean ecosystems that both humans and wildlife rely on. This administration continues to put the oil industry above people, our shared environment, and the law.”
“The Trump administration appears to have taken aim specifically at places that have been protected for years because of the importance of their marine ecosystems, their fisheries, and their coastal economies,” said Sierra Weaver, senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife. “What does it say when our leaders declare those values meaningless in comparison to big oil.”
“The federal government’s offshore oil drilling plan will damage coastlines and communities, while threatening coastal recreation and tourism industries that contribute billions of dollars to our nation’s economy. Offshore drilling is highly unpopular across the country and will increase the likelihood of yet another destructive oil spill off our coasts. Surfrider Foundation’s chapter network will fight this proposal vigorously to protect all U.S. coastlines from the unnecessary risks involved with new offshore drilling.” Pete Stauffer, Ocean Protection Manager, Surfrider Foundation.
“In Santa Barbara we know first-hand the danger of offshore oil drilling. The catastrophic 1969 Santa Barbara Oil Spill and the 2015 Plains Oil Spill are examples that there is no way to drill for new oil without causing devastating impacts to our coastal environment, tourism and recreation, and economy.” Maggie Hall, Deputy Chief Counsel, Environmental Defense Center.
“Our regional economic base relies on decades of bipartisan effort at protecting national treasures that are dependent on a clean coast, so deliberately sacrificing our economy makes no sense at all.” said Richard Charter, Director of the Local Government OCS Coordination Program, “Using the destructive tactics we’re seeing in today’s offshore drilling plan as a political punishment for any one state is certain to backfire.”
“This plan is a dangerous gift to the oil and gas industry at the expense of our planet and shared future. This administration wants to open vast new areas of the West Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska to drilling – gutting environmental safeguards and endangering communities in the process. Latino voters across the country, and across party lines, overwhelmingly reject more offshore drilling, as seen in our 2024 National Azul Poll. Our communities have lived the consequences of oil spills and pollution, and they are calling on our leaders to move us beyond fossil fuels,” said Marce Gutiérrez-Graudi?š, Founder and Executive Director, Azul.
“As climate change continues to wreak havoc on our coastal communities, it is irresponsible to consider exponentially expanding fossil fuel extraction endeavors in the Gulf, Alaska and the Pacific by increasing the number of leases by 34,” said Joanie Steinhaus, Ocean Program Director for Turtle Island Restoration Network. “We must not lock-in dependency on fossil fuels for decades to come at the expense of vulnerable habitats and endangered species.”
Michael Stocker, Founding Director of Ocean Conservation Research stated simply “In the face of the now-inevitable climate catastrophe, declaring an “Energy Emergency” to justify opening up millions of acres of the Outer Continental Shelf for the expansion of fossil fuel “energy dominance” is clearly psychotic. We are being told that “Climate Change is a hoax,” but we are never told who is perpetrating this “hoax,” and to what end?”
“This irresponsible draft proposal presents a grave threat to the United States’ marine ecosystem, our coastal communities, and the robust fisheries, tourism, and other industries that depend upon abundant and diverse marine life,” said Priscilla Brooks, Vice President for Ocean Conservation, Conservation Law Foundation. “From start to finish, oil and gas leasing, seismic exploration, and development of projects are risky, harmful, and unnecessary. Opening our waters to oil and gas drilling will only fuel the climate crisis and put us at risk of catastrophic oil spills. We need to transition to safer, renewable forms of energy, not expand dangerous, dirty fossil fuel infrastructure.”
FROM AQUARIUM CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP:
“Offshore drilling decisions reverberate far beyond the policy table; they are a direct threat to the coastal communities and economies that depend on a thriving ocean. New oil and gas leasing would put nearly 40% of coastal Americans at risk. These regions generate more than $400 billion each year through tourism, recreation, fisheries, and shipping industries. All of that relies on one thing: a healthy, living ocean. Our coasts are home to the unmistakable calls of beluga whales, the playfulness of sea otters and the intricate architecture of coral cities. They nourish us, protect us from storms, clean our waters, store carbon and anchor both our livelihoods and our sense of wonder. Opening new offshore waters to drilling would sacrifice the health of our coasts, undermine rather than strengthen our economy and drag us backward to an era before science gave us cleaner, safer alternatives.” Dr. Bridget Coughlin, President & CEO, Shedd Aquarium
“We have learned devastating lessons from the impacts of offshore oil development off California, in the Gulf, and elsewhere. We know that the foundation of thriving coastal communities and their economies is a healthy, vibrant ocean. We hope Californians and all Americans can act together, once again, to ensure a future free of the threat of offshore drilling.” Julie Packard, Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium
“South Carolina’s citizens and leaders are already on record in our collective opposition to offshore drilling that could compromise our state’s fragile ecosystems and quality of life.” Kevin Mills, South Carolina Aquarium President and CEO
Alaska Salmon 2011: Not Too Shabby
Prime Time For Face Time At Sportsmen’s Shows
EPA: Potential ‘Adverse Impacts’ On Bristol Bay Salmon Fishery With Pebble Mine; Comment Period On Draft Study Open Into July
About Author
