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1 [1] (January 22, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/goveseq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the iegislative debate since 1914 Updated January 22, 2025 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Status of Oil and Gas Program The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR, or the Refuge) comprises 19 million acres in northeast Alaska, administered primarily by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the Department of the Interior (DOI). ANWR's Coastal Plain-a 1.57-million-acre area in the northern part of the Refuge (Figure 1)-is viewed as an onshore oil prospect, with a mean estimate by the U.S. Geological Survey of 7.7 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil on federal lands. (For comparison, total U.S. petroleum consumption in 2023 was about 7.4 billion barrels.) The Refuge also is a center of activity for caribou and other wildlife, with subsistence use by Alaska Natives and critical habitat for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544). P.L. 115-97 established a program for oil and gas leasing and development in ANWR's Coastal Plain. The law's 2017 enactment marked a turning point in decades of congressional debate over energy development in the Refuge. Prior to enactment of the law, Section 1003 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA; P.L. 96-487) had prohibited oil and gas activities in ANWR unless explicitly authorized by an act of Congress. Section 20001 of P.L. 115-97 directed the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to establish and administer a competitive oil and gas program for ANWR's Coastal Plain and added this program as a stated purpose of the Refuge. The law required at least two lease sales in the Coastal Plain, one within four years of the law's enactment (i.e., by December 2021) and a second within seven years (by December 2024). Each lease sale was required to offer at least 400,000 acres and to include those areas with the highest potential for discovery of hydrocarbons. The law also contained provisions concerning management of the oil and gas program, minimum royalty rates for ANWR leases, disposition of revenues from the program, rights-of-way, and surface development. (For more information, see CRS In Focus IF10782, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) Oil and Gas Program: Provisions in P.L. 115-97, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.) During BLM's implementation of the ANWR oil and gas program, Congress has continued to debate leasing in the Refuge. Successive presidential Administrations have taken varying approaches to program implementation. January 2021 Lease Sa e On January 6, 2021, under the first Trump Administration, BLM held the first oil and gas lease sale for the ANWR Coastal Plain, offering 22 tracts on 1.1 million acres. The sale yielded a total of $14.4 million in high bids, and BLM issued leases for nine tracts, covering 437,804 total acres. Seven of the leases went to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), a state- established public corporation. Two leases went to private companies, both of which later relinquished their leases. Figure I. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Source: FWS, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan, April 2015. Edited by CRS.

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