https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated April 3, 2025
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Status of Oil and Gas Program
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR, or the
Refuge) comprises 19 million acres in northeast Alaska,
administered primarily by the Fish and Wildlife Service
(FWS) in the Department of the Interior (DOI). ANWR’s
Coastal Plain—a 1.57-million-acre area in the northern part
of the Refuge (Figure 1)—is viewed as an onshore oil
prospect, with a mean estimate by the U.S. Geological
Survey of 7.7 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil
on federal lands. (For comparison, total U.S. petroleum
consumption in 2024 was about 7.4 billion barrels.) The
Refuge also is a center of activity for caribou and other
wildlife, with subsistence use by Alaska Natives and critical
habitat for polar bears under the Endangered Species Act
(ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544).
P.L. 115-97 established a program for oil and gas leasing
and development in ANWR’s Coastal Plain. The law’s
2017 enactment marked a turning point in decades of
congressional debate over energy development in the
Refuge. Prior to enactment of the law, Section 1003 of the
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980
(ANILCA; P.L. 96-487) had prohibited oil and gas
activities in ANWR unless explicitly authorized by an act
of Congress. Section 20001 of P.L. 115-97 directed the
Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM), to establish and administer a
competitive oil and gas program for ANWR’s Coastal Plain
and added this program as a stated purpose of the Refuge.
The law required at least two lease sales in the Coastal
Plain, one within four years of the law’s enactment (i.e., by
December 2021) and a second within seven years (by
December 2024). Each lease sale was required to offer at
least 400,000 acres and to include those areas with the
highest potential for discovery of hydrocarbons. The law
also contained provisions concerning management of the oil
and gas program, minimum royalty rates for ANWR leases,
disposition of revenues from the program, rights-of-way,
and surface development. (For more information, see CRS
In Focus IF10782, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)
Oil and Gas Program: Provisions in P.L. 115-97, Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act.)
During BLM’s implementation of the ANWR oil and gas
program, Congress has continued to debate leasing in the
Refuge. Successive presidential Administrations have taken
varying approaches to program implementation.
January 2021 Lease Sale
On January 6, 2021, under the first Trump Administration,
BLM held the first oil and gas lease sale for the ANWR
Coastal Plain, offering 22 tracts on 1.1 million acres. The
sale yielded a total of $14.4 million in high bids, and BLM
issued leases for nine tracts, covering 437,804 total acres.
Seven of the leases went to the Alaska Industrial
Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), a state-
established public corporation. Two leases went to private
companies, both of which later relinquished their leases.
Figure 1. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Source: FWS, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan, April 2015. Edited by CRS.
