Trump administration moves to reopen Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling

[Aerial view of Off shore oil rig]
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The Trump administration formally moved this week to open [https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-takes-bold-steps-expand-energy-local-control-and-land-access-alaska] the entire coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration and drilling, reversing Biden-era protections for the region.

Interior Secretary Burgum said the agency plans to open the 1.56 million acre area in the North Slope along the edge of the Beaufort Sea for fossil fuel leasing.

The ANWR's 19 million acre wild landscape lacks roads and public facilities, but its coastal area is estimated to contain as much as 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Many oil companies have been reluctant to target the area, given the high costs, and environmentalists and native Alaskan groups argue oil development in the region risks imperiling arctic foxes, polar bears and caribou.

During Trump's first term, Congress lifted a 40-year-old ban on energy development in the ANWR and mandated lease sales, but the Biden administration suspended those sales, canceled leases sold in 2021, and barred exploration in more than half of the nearby National Petroleum Reserve.

The reopening is aligned with Trump's promise to boost domestic energy development, although oil and gas companies so far have shown little interest in investing in the ANWR.

Burgum also floated the concept of storing [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-24/interior-s-burgum-floats-shipping-gas-from-alaska-north-slope] natural gas produced in Alaska's North Slope and shipping it directly from there, a proposal he said has drawn interest from unnamed foreign investors.

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