The Biden administration indicated it will offer just 400,000 acres during an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) – the minimum it can lease under law.

The move, which came after President Donald Trump was elected for a second term, continues recent moves to limit oil and gas development in Alaska.

Earlier this year, the Interior Department retained protections on 28 million acres of D-1 public lands in Alaska, reversing a Trump-era bid to allow oil and natural gas leasing on the land (OGJ Online, Aug. 28, 2024).

The new ANWR lease plan, detailed in a US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS), proposes a smaller footprint for oil drilling than what was authorized in Trump’s first term. 

This new EIS came after legal challenges to Trump’s previous ANWR plan. The Biden administration said it needed to correct what it described as deficiencies in the studies done in Trump’s first term (OGJ Online, June 2, 2021).

The Biden administration must hold a lease sale of at least 400,00 ANWR acres by end-2024 under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, signed by Trump. ANWR was previously closed to leases for decades.

The law also required a sale in 2021. The sale drew little interest and none from the oil majors. The Biden administration ultimately canceled the leases, saying the sale violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider a reasonable range of alternatives (OGJ Online, Sept. 7, 2023).

BLM did not provide the exact date of the new ANWR lease sale. The administration must issue a record of decision that formalizes the sale’s size and any limits on drilling. Issuance is typically 30 days after the supplemental EIS is published in the Federal Register, which BLM said it expects to publish Nov. 8. 

The supplemental EIS offers several alternatives for the upcoming lease sale. The Biden administration’s favored plan proposes the least acreage and new environmental restrictions to protect wildlife, including polar bears and the Porcupine Caribou Herd, which uses the refuge during calving season. The administration’s preferred plan would offer leases mostly in the northern and western part of the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain, with much of the eastern and southern areas blocked.

The administration-supported plan also would restrict seismic exploration to leased tracts. The Trump administration’s previous plan would have allowed seismic exploration throughout ANWR.

The preferred plan also includes restrictions to protect marine and freshwater areas and ice-rich permafrost. It would also limit surface disturbance to 995 acres, about half of what was allowed under Trump’s previous plan. 

Second Trump administration

ANWR is just one area that may see more oil and gas development and fewer restrictions in the second Trump administration. 

American Petroleum Institute (API) president and chief executive officer Mike Sommers congratulated Trump on his election victory. “Energy was on the ballot, and voters sent a clear signal that they want choices, not mandates, and an all-of-the-above approach that harnesses our nation’s resources and builds on the successes of his first term.”

Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for LNG, said his association would work with the Trump administration to lift the Department of Energy’s pause on LNG export permits. “As global energy demand continues to grow, US LNG exports will play a critical role in ensuring the United States remains a global energy powerhouse," he said.

Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) president and chief executive officer Jeff Eshelman said he “appreciates President Trump’s commitment to energy leadership and security.”