16. Department of the Interior · Notable
Reinstate the 2020 ANWR EIS and lift the lease suspension
Printed page 530 16. Department of the Interior
“Reinstate the 2020 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) by secretarial order and lift the suspension of the leases.”
What has happened
- Done
Interior issued a new record of decision reopening 1.56 million acres of the Coastal Plain to leasing, "reversing the previous administration's 2024 plan that restricted development to the statutory minimum" — the 2020 environmental impact statement's alternative — and restored the canceled leases to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, "allowing development to move forward". Congress then voided the 2024 record of decision outright under the Congressional Review Act (P.L. 119-52, 2025-12-11), and BLM held the 2026 Coastal Plain lease sale in June 2026.
- Interior press release: Interior Takes Bold Steps to Expand Energy, Local Control and Land Access in Alaska — new Coastal Plain record of decision, AIDEA leases restored, Ambler Road rights-of-way reissued, 23,600 acres conveyed to the State
- Public Law 119-52 — congressional disapproval of the BLM Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Record of Decision
- BLM: Notice of 2026 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Lease Sale
- Attempted
SO 3422 §4 revoked SO 3401, the June 2021 order that imposed a "Comprehensive Analysis and Temporary Halt on All Activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Relating to the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program", and rescinded the policies adopted to implement it. SO 3418 §4(c) directed an assessment of "whether earlier revocations of leases within the Coastal Plain … were consistent with the law and whether the leases can be reinstated".
- Secretary's Order 3422, signed text — §4 revokes SO 3401; §5 reinstates SO 3352, “National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska”
- Secretary's Order 3422, “Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential” (February 3, 2025)
- Secretary's Order 3418, signed text — §4 directs action plans to suspend, revise or rescind SO 3398, SO 3399 and SO 3401 and the Biden-era rules listed with them
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Three things had to happen: the 2021 halt lifted, the 2024 plan undone, and the canceled AIDEA leases restored. All three did. #1469 owns the leasing-program trail for the same page.
- Action
- reinstate
- Object
- 2020 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Impact Statement and suspended leases
- ID
- 1486