On August 17, 2020, Interior Secretary David L. Bernhardt signed a Record of Decision (ROD) approving the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.[1][2] The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-97), passed by Congress and signed into law in late 2017, directs the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to establish and administer a leasing program in the 1.46 million-acre Coastal Plain, a section within the 19.3 million-acre ANWR. Secretary Bernhardt’s August decision determines where and under what terms and conditions leasing will occur in the designated area.

The ROD makes the entire Coastal Plain program area available for oil and gas leasing, and for potential future exploration, development and transportation. The program adopted in the ROD also offers protections for surface resources and other uses through an array of lease stipulations that will apply to future oil and gas activities. Approximately 359,400 acres (23% of available lands) will be subject to No Surface Occupancy (NSO)[3] stipulations within barrier islands and important aquatic habitats, and that approximately 721,200 acres (46% of available lands) will be subject to operational timing limitations in the primary calving habitat area for the Porcupine caribou herd.

[1] https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-bernhardt-signs-decision-implement-coastal-plain-oil-and-gas-leasing-program

[2]https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/102555/200241580/20024135/250030339/Coastal%20Plain%20Record%20of%20Decision.pdf

[3] NSO prevents surface disturbing activities from occurring in specific areas