Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Sunday evening announced that the Department of the Interior is moving to rescind a 2024 rule that placed significant new restrictions on oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A). The announcement was made in Utqiagvik, where Burgum said the move would restore the original intent of Congress to promote responsible energy production in the reserve.
Burgum, along with Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, was in America’s most northern community to meet with residents, officials, and to roll out more of Trump’s American Energy Dominance plan.
“Congress was clear: the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska was set aside to support America’s energy security through responsible development!” Burgum said.
The decision follows a thorough legal and policy review conducted by the Bureau of Land Management and senior officials. That review concluded the 2024 rule under President Joe Biden, formally titled Management and Protection of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, exceeded the agency’s statutory authority under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, conflicted with its purpose, and created unwarranted barriers to energy development.
“The 2024 rule ignored that mandate, prioritizing obstruction over production and undermining our ability to harness domestic resources at a time when American energy independence has never been more critical. We’re restoring the balance and putting our energy future back on track,” Burgum said.
The National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska covers approximately 23 million acres on Alaska’s North Slope. It was established by Congress as a strategic energy reserve in the wake of the 1970s oil crisis. The 1976 Act requires the BLM to carry out an “expeditious program of competitive leasing” while also protecting surface resources.
During a media event in Anchorage earlier in the day, Burgum talked about how vast the NPR-A is, comparing it to the size of a state like Indiana.
The 2024 rule had expanded procedural requirements and placed new limits on development across roughly 13 million acres of the reserve, designating them as “Special Areas.” Under that rule, companies would have needed to prove their operations would cause minimal or no adverse effects to surface resources, criteria that the Department of Interior says have no clear legal basis in the governing statute.
Rescinding the rule aligns with recent Executive Orders issued by President Trump in January 2025: E.O. 14153, Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential, and E.O. 14156, Declaring a National Emergency. Both orders direct federal agencies to reverse restrictive policies and revitalize domestic energy production, particularly in resource-rich regions like Alaska.
When finalized, the rescission would revert the NPR-A’s management framework to the pre-May 7, 2024 regulations. Those rules have historically guided leasing decisions through an “Integrated Activity Plan” process that includes provisions to protect wildlife habitat, subsistence use, and surface values.
The proposed rescission will be published in the Federal Register and open to public comment for 60 days.
Follow Must Read Alaska for more news coming out of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s Sustainable Energy Conference.
Bad News for the Environment !!
Oh, so you’re a BANANA — Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything
I believe the oil companies have been doing an outstanding job of keeping the environmental clean and safe for people and animals for decades! Any spills that have ever happened have been and will be reported and cleaned up making the areas as clean or cleaner than they were. So many agencies are involved when it comes to any kind of spills and the cleanup. The caribou herds have grown substantially and the wildlife is flourishing including the millions of birds that migrate to the north slope every year. I don’t know what facts you are stating but they do a great job up there and work hard to keep the environment safe and clean. The villagers are also part of this process and as part of their subsistence they eat the animals that live and migrate to/from the north slope and surrounding areas. Just ask them.
Teri I don’t know if you have any facts about them destroying the environment on the north slope but I have seen firsthand what an excellent job they do keeping the environment clean and safe for the wildlife living and migrating up there, mentioning the wildlife is eaten by the good people of the north slope and surrounding areas to include whales. Many agencies and villages are involved when there is a spill and the area is cleaned up so as to be as clean as it once was with inspections and lab testing done to make sure nothing gets contaminated. They take spills seriously and companies can lose contracts over spills or injuries. Villages take part in making sure they have clean and healthy animals for their subsistence. So, the hard working people that work and live there along with the state of Alaska and US Government take your comments seriously when you make them. If there is something you would like to share with our state and US government agencies? I’m sure they would be happy to hear them, otherwise please think about your words you speak when you comment. Thank you.
Humans currently lack the intelligence to conserve anything that will sustain life in the future. Greed? yeah, we got that
That is nice, but until the controlled opposition RINOs in Congress move to make such a policy enshrined in law, and not just a matter of an executive order, then this policy can and will easily be rescinded by the next radical leftist US president.