ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Department of Justice settled two lawsuits with the state of Alaska Tuesday challenging a Biden-era oil and gas leasing program affecting roughly 19 million acres of land in northern Alaska.
The two lawsuits from the state and the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) challenged the 2024 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program.
In its settlement, the DOJ claimed the program violated the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
“This settlement supports the Trump Administration’s commitment to secure American energy independence and our national security,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement.
The settlement specifically claimed the 2024 program violated the 2017 act under Trump by closing 75% of the Coastal Plain to leasing, imposed “unreasonable” surface use restrictions on the remaining 25% and restricted surface disturbance to 995 acres, instead of the 2,000 acres provided for in the act.
A lease sale held in the last days of President Trump’s first administration failed to attract much attention from major oil companies, with the few leases issued being later canceled by President Biden.
Under Biden in December 2024, a congressionally-managed oil and gas lease sale in ANWR under then-President Joe Biden was held with the minimum 400,000 acres required under the 2017 act.
In January 2025, no bids were received in the sale. Biden’s administration imposed greater protections with the 2025 sale, with conservation groups raising previous concerns that developing the land would cause significant disruptions to Porcupine Caribou herds in the area.
Last month, another oil and gas lease sale, this time under the Trump administration, attracted bids from two companies on five tracts of land — out of 58 total — in ANWR covering just over 72,000 acres. The sale brought in $3.7 million in revenue for the state and federal government.
Environmental groups in Alaska characterized the sale as a “flop” and a “failure” due to the lack of interest and low number of tracts bid on.
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