Biden Administration Approves Oil Lease Sale in Alaska
The Biden administration is proceeding with the sale of oil and gas drilling rights in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The auction is scheduled for January 9, 2025, and will be limited to 400,000 acres—the minimum mandate per the 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act—as requested by the Biden administration. This will be the second of such lease, with the first taking place four years ago under the Trump administration. The 2017 act authorized the sale of two leases in Alaska’s coastal plains. Despite this, the Biden administration terminated them, citing a lack of participation.
Some Alaskan political leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the current drilling constraints and hope there will be positive change under the Trump administration. Nagruk Harcharek, the president of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, described his frustration with the recent lease sale as “a deliberate effort by the Biden administration’s Interior Department to undermine the development potential.”
The Bureau of Land Management estimates the coastal plains contain between 4.25 billion and 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Energy development in the ANWR could enhance U.S. energy independence. There is hope that the Trump administration will further policy and expand oil and gas exploration opportunities.
Despite hostility towards the oil and gas sector during his administration, the administration’s approval of the oil lease sale is an encouraging step in the right direction, though more can be done. Biden, and the incoming Trump administration, should work with Harcharek and other Alaska North Slope leaders to address their concerns raised by the constraints on this lease sale.