On December 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced plans to hold an oil and gas auction for 400,000 acres in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on January 9, 2025. This auction is scheduled just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
The department's decision follows a record of decision and a notice of the lease sale, allowing the auction to occur before the end of the year. The auction covers the minimum acreage mandated by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, out of a total of 1.6 million acres available for lease.
In 2017, Congress mandated the Department of the Interior to conduct two regional sales by the end of 2024. During Trump's first term, the administration's lease sale resulted in nine leases being issued, with only two oil companies participating in the bidding process. The Biden administration subsequently reviewed and suspended all nine sales in 2021.
Environmental advocates, including Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe, have voiced strong opposition to the auction, arguing that oil drilling poses significant risks without providing tangible benefits to taxpayers or consumers. Grafe emphasized the potential environmental damage to the land, which holds cultural significance for the Gwich'in people and contributes to global climate instability.
The Alaskan region has attracted considerable interest from oil and gas companies, with the United States Geological Survey estimating that it contains approximately 7.7 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil on federal lands.