THE LINK: WINTER 2025 16 January’s federal federal lease sale draws no bidding No bids were received for a planned federal lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge held by the U.S. Department of the Interior on Jan. 10. “This concludes the second congressionally-mandated sale required by the 2017 Tax Act, which directed the BLM to hold two lease sales in the Coastal Plain,” of the refuge, the Interior Department said in a news release. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, blamed former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland for sabotaging the sale with restrictions, however, which she said discouraged bidding. The failure of the sale sets the stage for a new effort to lease tracts in the refuge under incoming Republican President Donald Trump. The lack of bids was expected in Alaska because of terms and stipulations for the leases laid out by Haaland. Congress mandated that two sales be held in the 2017 Tax Act, which passed in 2019 under Trump’s first term as president. The terms for the sale were set by the Trump Administration. The second sale was held under the Joe Biden Administration. Trump is now back in office and is expected to push Congress, where both the Senate and U.S. House are Republican-controlled, to extend the 2017 Tax Act. That will create an opportunity for the new president and Alaska’s congressional delegation to insert a new requirement for leasing in the new legislation. Under new management, ANWR leasing efforts to rise under Trump Photo Courtesy Department of Interior
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