Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Status of Oil and Gas Program (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised April 26, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF12006 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Laura B. Comay |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
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. 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 (or 10.4 billion barrels if Alaska Native lands and
adjacent waters are included). 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 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 development in ANWR unless such
activities were 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 leasing program for ANWR’s Coastal Plain and added
this program as a stated purpose of the Refuge. The law
requires 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 of enactment
(December 2024). Each lease sale must offer at least
400,000 acres and must include those areas with the highest
potential for discovery of hydrocarbons. The law also has
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)
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. Some Members support the program established in
P.L. 115-97, and others seek to repeal it.
