In a sweeping rollback of environmental protections, the Trump administration announced Monday it would eliminate federal safeguards on millions of acres of Alaska’s wilderness, exposing the area to oil drilling and mining in a renewed push for energy dominance.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, speaking from Alaska alongside Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, confirmed the reversal of a December 2024 executive order by then President Joe Biden. That order had banned drilling across the 23 million-acre National Petroleum Reserve- Alaska (NPR-A) the largest single tract of public land in the United States.
Calling the Biden-era protections “obstructionist,” Burgum said the current administration was determined to unlock domestic energy potential. “The Biden administration prioritized obstruction over production,” Burgum said. “That approach is undermining our ability to harness American resources at a time when energy independence has never been more critical.”
The announcement marks one of the boldest moves yet in President Donald Trump’s second-term energy agenda, underscored by his declaration of a “national energy emergency” on his first day back in office in January. That declaration has unleashed a flurry of executive orders designed to fast-track fossil fuel development and dismantle regulations imposed during the previous administration.
Energy Secretary Wright defended the NPR-A decision on social media, stating: “Oil production is the engine of economic growth in Alaska, funding more than 90% of the state’s general revenue. Unleashing American energy goes hand in hand with unleashing American prosperity.”
The move sparked swift backlash from environmental organizations and Indigenous advocates who warned that drilling in the remote Western Arctic would threaten biodiversity, disrupt Indigenous subsistence lifestyles, and worsen the climate crisis.
“The Trump administration’s move to roll back protections in the most ecologically important areas of the Western Arctic threatens wildlife, local communities, and our climate, all to appease extractive industries,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. “This is another outrageous attempt to sell off public lands to oil industry billionaires at the expense of one of the wildest places left in America.”
Environmentalists noted that the NPR-A, roughly 600 miles north of Anchorage and bounded by the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, serves as critical habitat for caribou, migratory birds, and other Arctic species. The land also holds deep cultural and subsistence value for Indigenous communities who have relied on it for generations.
“These lands are not just ecosystems; they’re heritage,” Miller added. “The public fought hard for these protections. We will not stay silent while they’re dismantled.”
Though Trump has made expanding fossil fuel production a cornerstone of his economic policy, earlier attempts to open Alsaka’s reserves have met with limited success. A highly publicized auction of leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) during Trump’s first term yielded few bidders and scant industry interest.
The NPR-A, originally designated in the early 20th century as a military fuel reserve, was opened to commercial development in 1976. However, Congress stipulated that any exploitation must balance energy development with environmental conservation, a balance critics say is now being ignored.
“There are some places too special and sacred to exploit with oil and gas drilling,” said Laura Daniel-Davis, acting deputy secretary of the interior during the Biden administration. “What’s happening in the Western Arctic is a clear abandonment of that principle.”
The Biden protections, part of a broader package that also included restrictions on Arctic drilling and mining, were still being challenged in court by the State of Alaska when Trump returned to power. Legal experts expect new lawsuits in the wake of the administration’s reversal.
“There’s no question this decision will face fierce legal resistance,” said Sylvia Cho, an environmental law professor at the University of Washington. “The administration will have to show that it considered the ecological, cultural, and climate impacts, something that has been legally required since the 1976 NPR-A Act.”
As drilling permits are expected to be issued in the coming weeks, activists and watchdog groups are gearing up for what promises to be a prolonged legal and political battle over the fate of one of America’s last great wild frontiers.
