Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The 1,563,500-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a frontier basin that holds strong potential for oil and gas development. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates it may contain between 4.25 and 11.8 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil.
The 2017 Tax Act (Public Law 115-97) directed the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to establish and administer a competitive oil and gas program for the area.
The BLM conducted its first lease sale in the Coastal Plain of ANWR Jan. 6, 2021, pursuant to the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program August 2020 Record of Decision (ROD) with any future oil and gas development actions requiring a separate detailed environmental analysis.
On Jan. 20, 2021, the White House issued Executive Order 13990, calling on the Department of the Interior to put a temporary moratorium on all activities related to the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, to review the existing Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and potentially conduct another analysis on environmental impacts.
In June 2021, the Secretary issued Secretary of the Interior Order 3401, which suspended all activities related to implementing the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program pending completion of a comprehensive analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act. On September 6, 2023, the remaining leases from the 2021 sale were officially canceled by the Secretary of the Interior.
Later, on December 8, 2024, the Department of the Interior issued a new Record of Decision, that made 400,000 acres available for a second lease sale. However, no bids were received by the deadline on January 6, 2025. Public bid opening scheduled for January 10 was subsequently canceled.
The BLM is currently implementing direction in Executive Order 14153 and Secretary’s Order 3422 to unleash the potential of the Coastal Plain by reversing the 2023 lease cancellations, reinstating the 2020 Record of Decision, and resuming and expanding leasing on the Coastal Plain. The BLM is also implementing direction in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21) that requires four lease sales in the Coastal Plain over the next seven years.