THE LINK: WINTER 2025 38 Second term will bring big changes at federal level There’s a new U.S. President in Washington, D.C. with big plans for shaking up the federal government. With Alaska’s future tied to natural resource development, new President Donald Trump’s enthusiasm for oil, gas and minerals development is a breath of fresh air after the cold shoulder former President Joe Biden gave Alaska’s key industries. Trump hopes to hit the ground running with a number of executive orders (these can be issued without Congress) that will attempt to undo many of Biden’s orders. Trump will definitely plot a course change in many federal agencies but how fast the ship of state will turn is uncertain. Biden attempted to “Trump-proof” many of his policies going out the door and the new president’s team will try to quickly undo as many of these as possible. But there will be lawsuits that will slow things down, and while the new president succeeded in getting a conservative U.S. Supreme Court in place during his first term, many of the key lower federal court judges, including in Alaska, were appointed earlier and are still presiding. Alaska U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, for example, is a tough, independent jurist who has years of experience with complex Alaska natural resource cases, many of them related to North Slope oil and gas. The complications in effecting a quick course change can be seen in three high-profile Alaska issues, one on leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a second on drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and a third on the proposed Ambler minerals access road. In initiating a new leasing plan in ANWR, it would seem relatively simple to add new required lease sales in the framework of a proposed extension to the 2017 Tax Act, under which the 2021 and most recent sales were carried out. However, there are still challenges. This will likely require another revision to the federal Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, done first under Trump for the 2021 sale and then revised by Biden for the recent sale. Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland claimed the earlier Trump EIS was deficient. The revision, under her Interior Department, not surprisingly noted more adverse impacts on wildlife Challenges remain amid Trump’s return Shutterstock Photo
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