Interior Department to Hold First ANWR Oil Lease Sale Under Trump

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management will hold an oil and gas lease sale bid opening Friday for tracts in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The area, also called the 1002 area, stretches across 1.56 million acres, and at least 400,000 acres are available. The refuge borders Canada and lies more than 600 miles from Anchorage.

ANWR leasing Congress first authorized drilling in the refuge in 2017 through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Biden administration held a lease sale in January 2025 that received no bids. State officials sued, arguing the offered acreage and surface restrictions made development impossible.

Local views and development challenges Residents of Kaktovik, the only village inside the Coastal Plain, have welcomed potential drilling for economic reasons. The Arctic Village and some other Native communities have opposed development, citing effects on caribou migration.

Philip Wight, associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, told the Washington Examiner that Arctic operations require shipping all equipment and are limited to winter months when the ground is frozen. An ExxonMobil spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that remote location, climate, limited infrastructure, and longer timelines make Alaska projects more expensive than those in the Permian Basin.