Interior Begins Process to Streamline Permitting in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska

Today, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced the start of a new effort to streamline permitting for oil and gas infrastructure in the approximately 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The effort comes in response to a petition for rulemaking from the Alaska Oil and Gas Association that requested the Bureau of Land Management amend its regulations to create a new development permit program in the petroleum reserve.  

The incoming petition from the Alaska Oil and Gas Association proposes to streamline permitting for construction and operation of qualifying production sites and associated infrastructure that meet predefined criteria. The BLM has analyzed the type of development covered in the petition through projects such as Greater Mooses Tooth One and Two, Willow, Alpine and other North Slope developments. 

“Industry has shown for years that energy development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska can be done responsibly,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “The Trump administration is building on that record by giving companies the certainty they need to invest, create good-paying jobs, strengthen Alaska’s economy and keep America Energy Dominant.” 

As a first step in this process, the Bureau of Land Management is initiating public scoping to inform an environmental impact statement for production site development in the Petroleum Reserve. During the 45-day scoping period, the public can submit comments through the BLM National NEPA Register project webpage. This effort will support a rulemaking BLM expects to undertake, that carefully considers Alaska Oil and Gas Association’s petition and is also open to refinement as the process continues.  

This effort builds on the Department’s work to unlock the reserve’s energy potential in Executive Order 14153, Secretary’s Order 3422 and the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.   The BLM has taken other steps to improve regulatory certainty in the Reserve, including rescission of the 2024 rule that restricted leasing and development in the petroleum reserve and reopening nearly 82 percent of the area to oil and gas leasing through an updated Integrated Activity Plan.      

About 1.6 million acres are currently leased in the reserve, with additional leases to be finalized soon following the historic lease sale held in March of 2026. That sale resulted in 187 tracts receiving bids and $163,696,722 in total receipts, generating the most revenue ever, the most tracts receiving bids and the second most acreage sold in a single sale.