JUNEAU, Alaska – The Trump administration is gearing up for a significant challenge on Friday as it prepares for the next lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, aiming to broaden oil and gas extraction in Alaska.
Critics of drilling on the refuge’s coastal plain highlight the lack of industry enthusiasm in previous sales and the ongoing climate shifts in Alaska’s Arctic as reasons to keep the area protected. Conversely, proponents view the Delaware-sized coastal plain as a promising untapped reserve that could enhance U.S. oil production, generating jobs and revenue.
This spring, a coalition of environmental organizations reached out to 11 oil companies, including Alaska stalwarts ConocoPhillips and Hilcorp, urging them to abstain from the lease sale. They pointed to ongoing legal battles surrounding the leasing initiative, which began during President Trump’s first term, cautioning about potential “financial, operational, and reputational risks.”
Organizations such as The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, and Earthjustice, who signed the letters, refer to the refuge as a “crown jewel” of America’s public lands. They emphasize the widespread support for preserving it, warning that any development there would attract significant attention and have major consequences.
Megan Olson, speaking for ConocoPhillips Alaska, stated the company does not disclose its plans regarding lease sales. Meanwhile, Hilcorp has yet to comment on the matter.
The Trump administration has shown a strong interest in Alaska, incorporating mandatory lease sales across three areas of the state into last year’s tax and spending legislation passed by Congress. Besides the coastal plain of the refuge, leases have been proposed in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and Cook Inlet, a long-time natural gas provider for Alaska’s largest communities.
There were no takers in the Cook Inlet auction in March. But there were hundreds of bids, including from major oil companies, for what was the first sale since 2019 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska — despite pending litigation challenging the leasing program. The Trump administration has moved to open more lands to drilling in the reserve and roll back protections there. The petroleum reserve is where ConocoPhillips Alaska is developing the large Willow oil project.
On Alaska’s vast, petroleum-rich North Slope, the major oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk lie between the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
A state corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, currently holds leases in the refuge but there is no active drilling. The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that the coastal plain could contain 4.25 billion to 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, but there is limited information about the amount and quality of oil.
The coastal plain, bordering the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska, features rolling hills and tundra and provides habitat for wildlife including musk oxen and migratory birds. It is considered sacred by the Gwich’in, because the caribou herd they rely upon calve there. Leaders from Gwich’in villages near the refuge have vowed to continue fighting to prevent drilling there.
But some Alaska Native communities have embraced development and see it as essential to the regional economy.
Nagruk Harcharek, president and CEO of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, an advocacy group whose members include leaders from Alaska Native communities on the North Slope, said there’s a long history of balancing development with culturally important practices, such as subsistence hunting. Responsible development is a key part of self-determination, particularly for residents in Kaktovik, the only community within the refuge, who support drilling, he said.
Kaktovik residents hunt and fish on the coastal plain and “will be a big part of whatever project moves forward in making sure that all of those resources are protected and that their people are taken care of,” he said.
