18 ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW WINTER 2025 No bids were offered in January lease sale amid restrictive stipulations BY TIM BRADNER U.S. SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI, R-ALASKA, SAYS NEW LEASE SALES WILL BE PLANNED IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE IN NORTHERN ALASKA. NEW PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP HAS PROMISED THE SAME. Two sales were held in the refuge in 2021 and in early January under provisions of the 2017 Tax Act. Murkowski said in an interview that the statute requires a minimum of two lease sales, but that more can be held. Under existing law, “Coastal Plain (ANWR) lease sales are discretionary after 2024. We don’t have to amend the Act to facilitate future sales, but that would be one way to do. The Senator is looking at all options with her team,” Murkowski spokesperson Joe Plesha said. It’s unclear how much industry interest there is in ANWR. Most geologists believe the potential is good in the northern coastal plain of the refuge near the Beaufort Sea coast, and its proximity to stateowned lands to the west, where major oil and gas discoveries have been made, reinforces that. Major companies were interested in years past but have recently been deterred because of the intense political controversies over drilling in the wildlife refuge. That can change under Trump’ pro-drilling stance, however. There were no bids offered in the January lease sale but Murkowski said outgoing Interior Secretary Deb Haaland basically sabotaged the sale with highly restrictive stipulations and a small amount of acreage offered, 400,000 acres, the minimum required under the Tax Act. Former President Joe Biden opposed leasing in the refuge and Haaland’s policies were designed to discourage bidding, Murkowski said. The previous lease sale in 2021 held as Trump was leaving office in his first term offered more acreage and did attract bids including from the state of Alaska development corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA). Haaland subsequently canceled the leases arguing that the Trump Administration conducted a poor environmental review in 2019 and 2020. AIDEA filed a lawsuit, contending Haaland lacked authority to cancel the leases. AIDEA’s lawsuit is now pending in an Alaska federal court, and if U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason rules Haaland’s cancellation was unlawful, the leases will be restored to the state authority. AIDEA had planned to do seismic and other pre-drilling work on its leases and then negotiate sub-lease deals with companies, its Executive Director Randy Ruaro has said, but Haaland denied permits to do work prior to cancelling the leases. If AIDEA recovers its leases in court, it can begin exploration and development work even before new lease sales are held under Trump. There will be lawsuits against any new leasing filed by national conservation groups, however. A new twist in this is that the federal Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, for the January lease sale prepared by Haaland, which replaced one done earlier under Trump’s first term, asserts new dangers to polar bears and caribou from drilling. The Trump Administration could conduct new lease sales using Haaland’s EIS or do a new one, but any weakening of lease restrictions and environmental protections will have to be justified by science. Drilling in the Arctic refuge has been a political football since the 1980s. The 19-million-acre Arctic refuge was created in 1980 by the Alaska National Interest Lands and Conservation Act as one of late President Jimmy Carter’s proudest accomplishments. Most of the refuge was designated as wilderness, a formal and highly restrictive federal land classification, but 1.5 million acres on the northern coastal plain was reserved for study of its petroleum potential and potential leasing. Congress had approved leasing, however, and conservation groups waged intense battles to block leasing. They succeeded until Trump came into his first term in 2016 and initiated what became the 2017 Tax Act. Alaska’s Sen. Murkowski attached an amendment to the act, which passed in 2019, granting congressional approval for ANWR leasing. MURKOWSKI: NEW LEASE SALES COMING IN ANWR Major companies were interested in years past but have recently been deterred because of the intense political controversies over drilling in the wildlife refuge. That can change under Trump’ pro-drilling stance, however.
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