Esra Tekin
24 October 2025•Update: 24 October 2025
ISTANBUL
The Trump administration unveiled a plan Thursday to permit oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the largest untouched wilderness areas in the US.
The move marks the latest development in a decades-long battle over the future of the refuge’s coastal plain, a 1.56-million-acre stretch of pristine land thought to contain billions of barrels of oil.
The area is also a vital habitat for polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife.
During his first term, President Donald Trump signed a tax law in 2017 mandating two oil and gas lease sales in the coastal plain.
The Biden administration later paused and ultimately revoked the leases.
The Interior Department announced Thursday that it will hold a new oil and gas lease sale in the coastal plain this winter and will reinstate seven leases that Alaska obtained in 2021 but that were canceled two years later under President Biden.
"This land should and will be supporting responsible oil and gas leasing," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said during an Alaska Day event at the Interior Department’s headquarters.
The Interior Department has finalized an agreement allowing the construction of a controversial gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska.
The agency also confirmed plans to approve an industrial road through untouched wilderness to access a proposed copper and zinc mine in northern Alaska.
Together, these moves “represent a clear and unified message, which is Alaska is open for business,” said Burgum.
Trump has consistently pledged to boost Arctic drilling as part of his broader push to expand US oil and gas production and achieve what he calls “American energy dominance.”
However, major oil companies have so far shown little interest in drilling in the refuge due to the high costs and potential public backlash, leaving it uncertain whether they will participate in the upcoming lease auction.
Complicating matters further, several major banks have pledged not to finance projects in the refuge, and environmental groups are expected to file lawsuits in an effort to stop the lease sale.
