Congress Repeals Limits on Mining in Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota

The U.S. Senate this week passed resolutions aimed at overturning Biden-era land management plans that limited mining and drilling activity in Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska.

Senate Republicans approved H.J. Res. 104 for Montana in a 52–47 vote and H.J. Res. 105 for North Dakota by a 51–47 margin on Wednesday. The Senate also passed H.J. Res. 106 for Alaska in a 50–46 vote on Thursday.

The resolutions will now advance to President Donald Trump’s desk and are expected to be signed into law.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) welcomed the Congressional approval of H.J. Res. 104, a bill that seeks to repeal the former Biden administration’s land management plan for Montana’s Miles City Field Office.

“Just yesterday, my bill to support Montana mining passed the U.S. Senate. This bill removes a disastrous [former President] Joe Biden policy that halts future coal leasing in Eastern Montana,” the senator said in a video address.

Daines said that the bill is intended to “unlock Montana’s full energy potential” by enabling new coal leasing in the region and to support local miners.

H.J. Res. 106 resolution, introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska), aims to nullify the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) land management plan for Alaska’s Central Yukon region. It passed the House on Sept. 3.

The BLM’s land management plan for Central Yukon, which was issued last year, designated 21 areas of “critical environmental concern or research natural areas,” covering more than 3.6 million acres of land, according to the bill.

“The formal revocation of these Biden-era regulations is another critical step to restore Alaska’s right to self-determination,” Begich said in a social media post announcing the bill’s passage.

Meanwhile, H.J. Res. 105 resolution would revoke the BLM’s land use plan that limits oil and gas development and coal leasing to areas within four miles of existing mines in North Dakota.

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) stated on X that the bill’s passage would “reassert Congressional intent and remind the bureaucracy our boundaries are not optional.”

Democratic senators had urged rejection of the repeals, arguing that President Donald Trump’s fossil fuel-friendly agenda is driving up energy prices as renewable sources are being sidelined even as the tech industry’s power demands soar for data centers.

“We are seeing dramatic increases in the price of energy for American consumers and businesses and the slashing of American jobs, so that Donald Trump can give an easy pass to the fossil fuel industry,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Oct. 8 on the Senate floor.

The Senate’s approval followed Trump’s presidential memo on Oct. 6, granting the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s (AIDEA) appeal of the BLM’s decision to block the Ambler Road project, which Trump had initially approved during his first term.

The proposed 211-mile industrial road would extend from the Dalton Highway to Alaska’s remote Ambler Mining District. Trump said the project would allow access to copper and cobalt deposits in the region.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.