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Alaska’s congressional delegation praised President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for starting the process of rescinding a Biden-era rule that restricted oil and gas exploration in the resource-rich Section 1002 of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Sen. Dan Sullivan said Burgum announced the move at a town hall in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) at the northern tip of the vast state, where local natives applauded because they “understand better than anyone” why responsible oil production is key to their communities’ livelihood.
Sullivan called the Biden-era rule “illegal” and said it turned vast swaths of an area originally intended for domestic energy production into “de facto wilderness.”
“Responsible resource development has transformed the lives of the Iñupiat people, supporting the construction of clinics, gymnasiums, water infrastructure—basic amenities most Americans take for granted,” Sullivan said.
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Burgum said his agency determined the 2024 rule exceeded the federal government’s bounds under a 1976 petroleum reserve law and also creates “unnecessary barriers to responsible energy development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.”
“Congress was clear: the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska was set aside to support America’s energy security through responsible development,” he said, adding the prior rule “prioritized obstruction over production.”
Rep. Nick Begich III called the decision a “major victory” and said that he will work with Trump to ensure responsible resource development.
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“This is a victory not only for those who support responsible development, but also those who believe in the rule of law,” added Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
“The 2024 management rule clearly violated the law, establishing restrictions and a presumption against development as part of the last administration’s effort to turn the North Slope into one giant tract of federal wilderness,” she continued.
“Repealing the rule will not weaken our world-class environmental standards, but it will enable Alaska to produce more energy as Congress intended. The result will be good jobs for Alaskans, more affordable energy for America, and significant new revenues for government.”
In January, Gov. Mike Dunleavy told Fox News Digital that a final, congressionally-mandated sale of land for development in ANWR was set up to fail – characterizing it as a parting shot by the last administration toward the Last Frontier.
“These leases should be executed in good faith along the established historical processes. And obviously, the Biden administration in the past four years has just been brutal on Alaska,” he said at the time, envisioning that the Trump administration would do just as Burgum announced this week.
At the time, Murkowski also said that a now-former Interior official “openly admitted” during a working group that the process with which the restrictions were set upon ANWR was done in a way to intentionally circumvent the Congressional Review Act.
That law was what allowed other Senate Republicans to undo several Biden-era EPA actions last month with a simple floor vote.
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