On April 25, 2022, the Department of the Interior announced that it has signed a new management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), a 23 million-acre area on Alaska’s North Slope.[1] The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) says that the plan “balances protection of special areas and wildlife habitat with responsible resource development.” The BLM had announced in January 2022 that it would review the integrated activity plan (IAP) for the area. The final decision reverses a Trump-era plan that had opened 82% of the NPR-A’s land to oil and gas leasing. The new plan reinstates the previous management plan, which was put into place by the Obama administration in 2013. The new IAP protects about half of the reserves lands, including caribou and avian habitats, from oil and gas leasing. It also includes new requirements for potential oil and gas drilling, such as revised operating standards to protect endangered species. The BLM has held a yearly oil auction in the NPR-A since 2010, with the exception of 2020 when oil and gas prices were low due to the pandemic.

[1] https://www.blm.gov/press-release/following-january-announcement-bureau-land-management-issues-record-decision-national