Interior Department to Streamline Permitting in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve

The Department of the Interior (DOI) has kicked off a new effort to streamline the permitting process for oil and gas infrastructure in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, it said in a May 15 statement.

The National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska spans about 23 million acres, an area Congress designated for oil and gas exploration in response to the 1970s energy crisis. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages the reserve under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, which mandates an “expeditious program of competitive leasing,” according to DOI. Roughly 1.6 million acres of the reserve are currently leased.

“The effort comes in response to a petition for rulemaking from the Alaska Oil and Gas Association that requested the Bureau of Land Management amend its regulations to create a new development permit program in the petroleum reserve,” the DOI said in its recent statement.

“The incoming petition from the Alaska Oil and Gas Association proposes to streamline permitting for construction and operation of qualifying production sites and associated infrastructure that meet predefined criteria.”

The department said that the BLM, as a first step, is initiating public scoping to allow the public to provide input on the proposal. In this case, the public scoping is aimed at gathering feedback regarding the environmental concerns related to oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve. The public has 45 days to comment on the issue.

The comments will support rulemaking that the BLM is expected to undertake that “carefully considers” the petition, DOI said.

“Industry has shown for years that energy development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska can be done responsibly,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said. “The Trump administration is building on that record by giving companies the certainty they need to invest, create good-paying jobs, strengthen Alaska’s economy and keep America Energy Dominant.”

In March, the DOI conducted the first oil sale lease in the reserve since 2019. During the event, 10 companies bid on multiple tracts spanning 1.3 million acres, out of the 5.5 million acres the Trump administration has opened for energy exploration. The lease netted $163.7 million.

Environmental group Sierra Club had criticized the lease sale in a March 18 statement, saying that the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska is home to critical habitats for wildlife, including threatened species and migratory birds.

These lands also support subsistence traditions of Inupiat communities that have lived in the region for several generations, the group said.

“Drilling in the Arctic won’t solve our energy crisis, but it will cause irreversible damage to these pristine landscapes,” Mike Scott, Sierra Club’s oil and gas campaign manager, said. “Big Oil has been champing at the bit to get its hands on these lands, and [President Donald] Trump is making their wishes come true.”

At the time, the Alaska Oil and Gas Association applauded the lease sale, highlighting that it underscored renewed investor confidence in Alaska’s long-term resource potential.

Alaska Support Industry Alliance CEO Rebecca Logan said in a March 18 statement that the state’s oil field service and support companies are ready to partner with operators to safely deliver projects on the leased land while maintaining “the highest environmental standards.”

Steve Wackowski, CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said that the lease sale “sends a clear signal that when Alaska offers a stable fiscal and regulatory environment, investment follows.”

Opening up Alaska’s energy resources is in line with a Jan. 20, 2025, executive order signed by President Donald Trump, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.”

In the order, Trump wrote that Alaska held an “abundant and largely untapped” amount of natural resources, including energy and minerals.

“By developing these resources to the fullest extent possible, we can help deliver price relief for Americans, create high-quality jobs for our citizens, ameliorate our trade imbalances, augment the Nation’s exercise of global energy dominance, and guard against foreign powers weaponizing energy supplies in theaters of geopolitical conflict,” the order states.

The order made it U.S. policy to “expedite the permitting and leasing” of energy resource projects in Alaska.