JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) \u2014 The U.S. government plans another oil and gas lease sale for Alaska\u2019s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge \u2014 following two prior sales that saw no interest from major oil companies and amid ongoing litigation aimed at blocking drilling in a region seen as sacred by the indigenous Gwich\u2019in.<\/p>\n
The sale will be held June 5, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Friday. It would be the first in the region under a law passed by Congress last year calling for four lease sales in the refuge\u2019s coastal plain over a 10-year period. But it would be the third in the refuge overall, following one held<\/a> near the end of President Donald Trump\u2019s first term that has been tangled in litigation<\/a> and another in early 2025, shortly before then-President Joe Biden left office, that yielded no bids. <\/p>\n Drilling supporters, including Alaska political leaders, argued last year\u2019s sale was too meager an offering<\/a> to draw interest.<\/p>\n The upcoming sale also would be the third federal oil and gas lease sale this year alone in Alaska under an aggressive push by the Trump administration<\/a> to expand development in the state. There were no bidders in a sale last month for the aging Cook Inlet basin, while a lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska<\/a> \u2014 where the large Willow oil project<\/a> is under development \u2014 drew hundreds of bids despite pending legal challenges to the sale.<\/p>\n Bill Groffy, the land management agency\u2019s acting director, in a statement said the success of last month\u2019s petroleum reserve sale signaled a \u201crobust and continuing demand for Alaskan energy, underscoring the need for more opportunities like the Coastal Plain sale.\u201d<\/p>\n Leaders from Gwich\u2019in villages near the arctic refuge and conservation groups vowed to continue fighting efforts to open the refuge\u2019s coastal plain to drilling. The Gwich\u2019in consider the coastal plain sacred, as it provides calving grounds for a caribou herd they rely on. The plain, bordering the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska and featuring rolling hills and tundra, also provides habitat for wildlife including muskoxen and migratory birds.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump Administration\u2019s relentless push to auction off this sacred land despite overwhelming public opposition and industry that has already signaled they are not interested makes clear that this administration values corporate interests over the rights and lives of Indigenous peoples,\u201d Galen Gilbert, first chief of Arctic Village Council, said in a statement. \u201cWe will continue to fight with every tool available to protect the Coastal Plain for our children and all future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n