This resolution cancels the Bureau of Land Management's 2024 plan that limited oil and gas leasing in the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Without it, the federal government can open more of the area to drilling with fewer wildlife protections.
This joint resolution opens public land for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Specifically, the joint resolution nullifies the record of decision (ROD) issued by the Bureau of Land Management on December 9, 2024, for the program that leases, develops, produces, and transports oil and gas in and from the Coastal Plain program area within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The 2024 ROD that is being nullified by this resolution replaced the 2020 ROD that made all of the approximately 1.6 million acres of the program area available for oil and gas leasing. The 2024 ROD made approximately 1.2 million acres unavailable for leasing or exploration in order to protect and conserve resources and certain uses in these areas. However, the 2024 ROD requires the statutory minimum of 400,000 acres to be made available for oil and gas leasing in a specified lease sale, subject to certain stipulations and operating procedures. Under current law, those acres must be located in the areas with the highest potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons.
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