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44m ago

Interior to Publish Rule Overturning NPR-A Drilling Limits on Nov. 17

BLM returns to 1977-era management under congressional mandates that require multiple lease sales through 2035.

FILE - Interior Secretary Doug Burgum speaks during the annual Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference on June 3, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
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Overview

  • The move rescinds an April 2024 BLM rule that had blocked new drilling across roughly 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska.
  • Interior said reverting the framework will reduce regulatory burdens and help deliver economic benefits, with Secretary Doug Burgum citing jobs and energy security.
  • BLM has issued a call for nominations for a winter oil and gas lease sale, which would be the first in the reserve since 2019.
  • Federal law now requires at least five NPR-A lease sales by 2035, with each offering no fewer than 4 million acres.
  • Reaction split quickly, with Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat and the North Slope Borough mayor welcoming the reversal and Earthjustice denouncing the loss of safeguards for wildlife and subsistence areas.