Interior cancels ANWR leases, shrinks acreage on Alaska North Slope for leasing

The Biden administration announced Sept. 6 it is canceling oil and gas leases on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and is proposing a rule to sharply reduce the potential acreage for leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), oil-rich federal lands that cover much of the North Slope of Alaska.

The Interior Department said the proposed rule for the NPR-A “would establish an outright prohibition on any new leasing in 10.6 million acres, more than 40 percent of the NPR-A.”

The Interior Department is canceling seven ANWR leases despite the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which mandated the lease sale held in 2021 (OGJ Online, Jan. 6, 2021). Sen. John Barrasso (D-Wyo.) said President Biden was ignoring the law, and at least a few other lawmakers agreed.

“This is another attempt to use executive action to circumvent a law to accomplish what this administration does not have the votes to achieve in Congress,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said. “Canceling valid leases, removing acreage from future sales, and attempting to reduce production in Alaska while taking steps to allow Iran and Venezuela to produce more oil—with fewer environmental regulations—makes no sense and is frankly embarrassing.”

In announcing its ANWR decision, Interior argued that the 2021 lease sale violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a law that is the ongoing source of a great amount of litigation deriving in part from its broadly nonspecific requirements for consideration of alternatives. Interior is insisting the lease sale plan failed to consider a reasonable range of alternatives.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, however, requires that all alternatives include the same minimum amount of acreage be offered for leasing, and that the acreage must include “those areas that have the highest potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons.”

Interior also is saying the lease sale misinterpreted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.), who drafted the portion of the act that mandates the ANWR leasing, disagrees. She issued a statement saying the latest Interior decisions are “illegal, reckless, defy all common sense, and are the latest signs of an incoherent energy policy from President Biden.”

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), a longtime proponent of barring oil and gas work from ANWR, praised the administration’s action. “Today’s decision overturns the Trump administration’s last-minute attempt to circumvent environmental laws and jam through drilling in the pristine Arctic refuge,” she said. “Now we need to permanently protect these irreplaceable areas.”

The seven leases being revoked are held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a public corporation owned by the state government. If it had been allowed to proceed, it could have invited large oil companies to join in consortia to develop the leases.

More NPR-A protection

In the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, Interior is proposing to expand protection for areas containing what the department calls “special areas” with sensitive landscapes and surface resources, notably areas threatened by wildlife. The expansion will involve more than the 10.6 million acres where no new leasing would be allowed.

As Interior explained, “The proposed rule would protect 13 million acres encompassed by the existing special area by limiting future oil and gas leasing and industrial development in the Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok Uplands, Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon, and Peard Bay special areas—places collectively known for their globally significant intact habitat for wildlife.”

A 60-day public comment period will open when the proposed NPR-A rule is published in the Federal Register.

Some comment was issued Sept. 6 by Kara Moriarty, president of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.

“What’s ironic is that the Biden administration made this announcement the day after we saw more headlines about more Russian oil tankers traveling through the Bering Strait due to the war in Ukraine,” Moriarty said. “The world demand for oil isn’t going away. Our commander-in-chief should be doing everything he can to open more areas, not less, to secure energy independence. This move sends a signal that President Biden isn’t concerned about Alaska or our national security.”