Public Lands Watch: Alaska National Wildlife Refuge

This blog post was drafted by Jamie T. Martinez. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in order to implement the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program established in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) (see Public Law 115-97 Title II § 20001(b)(2)). This leasing program covers the 1.6-million-acre Coastal Plain area within the 19.3-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska. The leasing program requires the Secretary of the Interior to “establish and administer a competitive oil and gas program for the leasing, development, production, and transportation of oil and gas in and from the Coastal Plain.” The program requires that at least two lease sales occur by December 22, 2024. It also requires that each lease consist of at least 400,000 acres of Coastal Plain land. The leased land must have the highest potential for gas or oil discovery. Further, lessees are allowed up to…

Read more detail on Recent Environmental Law posts –

This entry was posted in Environmental Law and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply