DOI plans to open more than 80% of Alaska petroleum reserve for energy leasing

The Department of the Interior announced plans last week to dramatically expand oil and gas development at the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, potentially opening 82% of the massive reserve to energy leasing.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a draft environmental analysis on June 17 supporting the proposed changes. The plan would make an additional 7 million acres available for development beyond what is currently allowed under existing rules.

Under the current 2022 management plan, about 11.8 million acres—roughly 52% of the 23 million-acre reserve—are open to oil and gas leasing. The new proposal would expand that to approximately 18.7 million acres.

The draft analysis compares these two options and provides environmental impact data for both. The agency is accepting public comments on the environmental analysis through July 1.

The reserve sits on substantial untapped energy resources. A 2017 U.S. Geological Survey assessment estimated 8.7 billion barrels of oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exist in undiscovered, technically recoverable resources within the area.

Those figures represent more than six times what earlier assessments had projected, based on industry discoveries that proved larger than anticipated.

The expansion proposal represents the latest shift in the reserve’s management, which has changed significantly between presidential administrations.

Congress originally established the reserve in response to the 1970s oil crisis to bolster national energy security. The area has alternated between more restrictive and more permissive development policies as political control has changed hands.

The current proposal aligns with a separate Interior Department initiative announced June 2 to rescind a 2024 rule that added new restrictions on oil and gas development in the reserve. That

rescission proposal argues the 2024 restrictions exceeded legal authority and hindered effective leasing programs.

The rescission proposal has a 60-day public comment period after publication in the Federal Register.

Photo by Francisco Cornellana Castells from Pexels