![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/V55QOTULHJD75BT4WUCWCA4ULQ.jpg\")
The state’s economic development agency \u2014 the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA \u2014 wants to fund oil exploration on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most hotly debated areas of federal land in the country. (Max Graham \/ Northern Journal-Anchorage Press) <\/p>\n
After decades of fierce debate over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, oil companies largely appear leery of the idea.<\/p>\n
The contested swath of federal land, on Alaska\u2019s Beaufort Sea coast, is politically fraught and far from existing roads and pipelines. And given the limited data on its geology, oil executives still aren\u2019t sure how much petroleum is trapped underground.<\/p>\n
In spite of three federal lease sales of refuge land in the past decade \u2014 with the most recent sale just last month \u2014 not a single major oil company has bid.<\/p>\n
Instead, the industry is flooding<\/a> into a different federal area far to the west, the National Petroleum Reserve\u2013Alaska, where there are proven oil deposits and fewer political obstacles to development.<\/p>\n But the decades-long quest to find oil in the Arctic refuge isn\u2019t over. The largest oil and gas exploration program in the area\u2019s history could soon begin \u2014 funded not by companies like ConocoPhillips or ExxonMobil but by an arm of the state of Alaska.<\/p>\n Alaska\u2019s economic development corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority<\/a>, known as AIDEA, is launching its own, up-to-$175-million plan to search for fossil fuels beneath the refuge\u2019s coastal plain, a sliver of tundra along the Arctic Ocean. <\/p>\n The state agency is the largest leaseholder in the refuge, having bought up more than 600 square miles since Congress opened the area to leasing in 2017. If AIDEA can acquire key permits, large trucks could roll across the frozen tundra as soon as next winter, shooting shockwaves deep underground to scan for oil reservoirs.<\/p>\n But the plan faces stiff blowback, and it\u2019s stirring up debate about the future of the Arctic refuge and spending decisions by AIDEA \u2014 a state-owned corporation that\u2019s already under attack<\/a> by opponents of its pro-resource extraction agenda. <\/p>\n AIDEA and its allies argue that its work will help prove the refuge contains vast amounts of oil, and could unleash a flood of corporate investment that would translate into jobs and state revenue for Alaska.<\/p>\n Critics, meanwhile, say that a state entity shouldn\u2019t take on the role, and risk, of an oil company \u2014 spending big in an area where industry has refused to invest. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re lone wolves out on the tundra, so to speak,\u201d said Pat Pourchot, a former U.S. Department of Interior official who also once served as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.<\/p>\n AIDEA was one of only two participants<\/a> in the latest federal lease sale, along with a small Alaska gas producer, HEX. <\/p>\n The two entities bid on just one-tenth of the acreage offered by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n \u2018Very serious concerns about reporting on ANWR\u2019<\/p>\n The exploration work that AIDEA now intends to fund is known as \u201c3-D\u201d seismic because it generates a three-dimensional image of rocks deep underground. That information would give analysts a much clearer and more detailed idea of what\u2019s beneath the ground than older, 2-D data that was collected in the refuge in the 1980s.<\/p>\n The effort could yield crucial insight into the area\u2019s oil potential, said Mark Myers, a former director of the U.S. Geological Survey who\u2019s also worked as a top land manager for Alaska state government. <\/p>\n \u201cYou would need 3-D out there, quite clearly, to understand what\u2019s under the ground,\u201d Myers said. \u201cModern data will inform a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Promising results could attract oil companies \u2014 but there\u2019s no guarantee the data will be positive, he added. <\/p>\n \u201cWhether or not the oil is there is independent of what we want to believe,\u201d Myers said. <\/p>\n Oil prospecting is speculative work, typically the domain of private investors and companies with technical expertise \u2014 and a willingness to sustain big expenses that don\u2019t always pay off. Merely searching for oil in the Arctic can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and ramping up to production can cost billions. <\/p>\n While AIDEA has loaned money to other oil and gas companies before, it has never overseen its own Arctic exploration program. Its staff is not made up of petroleum geologists nor other technical experts typically employed by oil firms.<\/p>\n But in May, AIDEA\u2019s governor-appointed board approved spending<\/a> up to $175 million on the 3-D seismic testing, including \u201cpermitting and regulatory work.\u201d It did not include money for drilling, which would typically come after seismic data has been collected.<\/p>\n Industry experts say that budget is higher than usual for a season of seismic work on the North Slope. But the resolution does not specify how long the project will last, and AIDEA is not obligated to spend all the money approved by the board. <\/p>\n In 2013, then-Gov. Sean Parnell\u2019s administration proposed spending $50 million<\/a> on oil exploration in the refuge, equivalent to some $70 million today when adjusted for inflation. But the Obama administration blocked that effort.<\/p>\n AIDEA has not released details about its effort to gather seismic data, and officials with the agency declined to answer questions or release basic information about it, including an expected timeline. The agency has not yet applied for key permits from the federal Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to spokespersons for those agencies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re advancing seismic. We\u2019re advancing a drilling plan. We\u2019re fighting the opponents of the project in the federal district court,\u201d AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro said at a board meeting last month.<\/p>\n Ruaro did not respond to questions seeking clarification about his comments, though in a previous email to Northern Journal, he expressed \u201cvery serious concerns about reporting on ANWR and bias.\u201d<\/p>\n Some positive impacts of development of the refuge\u2019s coastal plain \u201cseem to get omitted from every story,\u201d Ruaro added, pointing to potential revenue to state and local governments, royalties that oil producers would pay to the state and the resulting higher Alaska Permanent Fund dividend checks for state residents.<\/p>\n Ruaro also said media coverage tends to ignore \u201cthe unfair treatment of Kaktovik,\u201d an I\u00f1upiaq community inside the refuge whose leaders support development, as well as \u201cintentional discrimination against Alaska and North Slope oil and gas development by banks and insurers instigated by the Gwich\u2019in.\u201d <\/p>\n Leaders of the Gwich\u2019in, an Indigenous group in Alaska\u2019s Interior and northwestern Canada, have long opposed drilling on the coastal plain. The area encompasses the calving grounds of a major caribou herd that migrates south into Gwich\u2019in lands, where the animals are harvested for food.<\/p>\n \u201cAdvocating for our way of life does not discriminate against anyone, but it most certainly doesn\u2019t discriminate against massive corporations with huge stores of wealth that are making decisions based on financial return and risks,\u201d Kristen Moreland, executive director of the Gwich\u2019in Steering Committee, wrote in an email to Northern Journal.<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019re not going to do anything radical\u2019<\/p>\n To lay the groundwork for its seismic program, AIDEA is spending $1 million on a contract with a subsidiary of the North Slope\u2019s Indigenous-owned corporation, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. \u2014 a longtime supporter of drilling in the refuge.<\/p>\n The subsidiary, ASRC Consulting and Environmental Services, is working on community outreach, environmental studies and permitting related to the seismic program, according to documents that Northern Journal obtained through a records request.<\/p>\n ASRC is also subcontracting with a Houston-based firm, SAExploration, that has been working on proposals for seismic testing in the refuge since 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the ASRC subsidiary referred Northern Journal to AIDEA for comment.<\/p>\n Under a separate, $70,000 contract with AIDEA, the ASRC subsidiary last year issued a glowing report<\/a> on the coastal plain\u2019s oil and gas potential. <\/p>\n The report described the refuge as the most promising unexplored area in North America \u2014 excluding offshore deposits \u2014 citing historical data and large new discoveries on state land nearby. Decades ago, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated<\/a> that as many as 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil lie beneath the coastal plain.<\/p>\n While the Legislature oversees AIDEA\u2019s annual operating budget, the agency\u2019s finances are separate from other government funds \u2014 and only certain kinds of spending, like issuing bonds over a certain amount<\/a>, require specific legislative approval.<\/p>\n Still, some lawmakers aren\u2019t convinced that seismic testing in the refuge is the best use of AIDEA\u2019s money<\/p>\n \u201cI do think that the scale of some of these projects \u2014 the type of development that they pursue, and the lack of oversight on that development \u2014 does really raise questions about: What are our priorities as a state?\u201d said Rep. Ashley Carrick, a Democrat from Fairbanks who chairs the House State Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n Carrick introduced a bill<\/a> last year that would require legislative approval of AIDEA spending proposals over $100 million. It failed to advance. <\/p>\n Most of Alaska\u2019s elected officials \u2014 as well as many I\u00f1upiaq leaders in Kaktovik and across the North Slope \u2014 have pushed hard to open the Arctic refuge to development, citing potential economic benefits.<\/p>\n One longtime proponent, Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, said the recent lease sale results \u201cwere not surprising, given the acreage already leased and the continued partisan push against responsible development.\u201d<\/p>\n Murkowski described the refuge as \u201cbasically unexplored,\u201d suggesting that it could be similar to an oil-rich geologic formation, the Nanushuk, that was discovered only about a decade ago. That formation has since led to the industry\u2019s revival in the petroleum reserve, to the west of the refuge.<\/p>\n The coastal plain\u2019s \u201ctrue prospectivity can only emerge as leaseholders move forward under a federal administration willing to work with them,\u201d Murkowski said in a statement to Northern Journal.<\/p>\n The other petroleum company with leases in the refuge, HEX, has not announced plans for the area it acquired in the recent sale.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here as an Alaskan trying to be a responsible developer for Alaska, so we have opportunities in the future for our kids and my grandkids,\u201d said John Hendrix, HEX\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n HEX mostly produces natural gas in a different petroleum basin, Cook Inlet, near Anchorage. Hendrix declined to comment on the potential for partnering with AIDEA on development in the Arctic, but the two entities have worked together before. Two years ago, AIDEA opened a $50 million line of credit to HEX to fund the company\u2019s drilling in Cook Inlet. <\/p>\n Hendrix described HEX\u2019s foray into the Arctic as a way to diversify his business. He would not say if the company is already planning work on its leases \u2014 and if so, when it might happen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re a private company, and we keep that stuff tight to ourselves,\u201d Hendrix said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to do anything radical. But we will do what we have to do to bring production forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Northern Journal-Anchorage Press contributor Max Graham can be reached at max@northernjournal.com. This article<\/a> was originally published in Northern Journal, a newsletter from Nathaniel Herz that is merging with the Anchorage Press. Subscribe at northernjournal.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state’s economic development agency \u2014 the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA \u2014 wants to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[1872,192,13595,4933,79],"class_list":["post-773380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-energy","tag-environment","tag-mike-dunleavy","tag-press-conference","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TGS7B2WEWZFDHE5KGGTNLX7DGY.jpg\")
This map of Alaska’s North Slope shows the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve\u2013Alaska and the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay, Alpine and Pt. Thomson. While AIDEA owns leases in the 1002 Area of the refuge, the oil industry has shown more enthusiasm about NPR-A. (U.S. Geological Survey) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ZJ2XMDRB5FE3PE6QMGNO3VQALM.JPG\")
AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro gives comments as Gov. Mike Dunleavy held a news conference to discuss the future of energy in Alaska in Anchorage on Jan. 6, 2025. (Marc Lester \/ ADN archive) <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DHYFIHOPYFCCXLP2HHZDDWPEWA.jpg\")
This map shows the results of the latest federal lease sale, in June 2026, on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where AIDEA is the the largest leaseholder. Most tracts offered were not bid on. (Bureau of Land Management) <\/p>\n