Biden administration to hold Congress-mandated ANWR lease sale in January
The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will give industry the opportunity on Jan. 9, 2025, to bid for oil and gas leases on 400,000 acres in the northwest portion of the coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife, the smallest amount of acreage required by Congress as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
The act required BLM to offer two lease sales in the Coastal Plain within 7 years of enactment. The Trump administration held the first lease sale in January 2021.
Shortly after the leases were issued, President Biden issued an executive order directing the Interior Department to review the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program. As a result of the deficiencies found during that review, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in June 2021 suspended activities related to implementing the leasing program until BLM could issue a new analysis of the effects of development (OGJ Online, June 6, 2021).
Of the nine leases sold during the Trump administration’s sale, two were canceled and refunded at the request of the lessees and the remaining seven were canceled by the department due to legal deficiencies in the underlying record.
The new sale would occur 11 days before President-elect Trump, who has called for expanded leasing and drilling in Alaska, takes office.
BLM issued a Record of Decision Dec. 9 or the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), which analyzed the program for the nearly 1.6-million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In a Dec. 9 release, BLM said it opted for the least acreage because the plan “best balances” the need to protect wildlife and the environment for development while meeting Congress’ lease mandate.
BLM said it and the US Fish and Wildlife Service worked as joint lead agencies on the SEIS, which it said was informed by science, public comments, and cooperating agency input. The agencies consulted with Alaska Native Tribes and corporations and engaged with a variety of stakeholders to develop the analysis, using the best available data and science, it said.
The plan limits leasing to areas with the most potential for oil and gas, while prohibiting development on ANWR lands that are home to polar bears, migratory bird nesting areas, and the calving grounds for the porcupine caribou herd.
BLM first previewed the sale in November but failed to provide a date or the results of the EIS (OGJ Online, Nov. 7, 2024).
Cathy Landry | Washington Correspondent
Cathy Landry has worked over 20 years as a journalist, including 17 years as an energy reporter with Platts News Service (now S&P Global) in Washington and London.
She has served as a wire-service reporter, general news and sports reporter for local newspapers and a feature writer for association and company publications.
Cathy has deep public policy experience, having worked 15 years in Washington energy circles.
She earned a master’s degree in government from The Johns Hopkins University and studied newspaper journalism and psychology at Syracuse University.
