10.23.25

Ranking Member Huffman: Trump’s “Alaska Day” Blitz Is a Full-Scale Giveaway to Big Oil and Mining

Washington, D.C. – Today, Natural Resources Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) issued the following statement after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced a coordinated series of Trump administration actions to open the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain to drilling and strip long-standing protections from Alaska’s most ecologically sensitive and culturally significant lands and waters:

“Trump just declared open season on Alaska’s public lands. In just a few weeks, his administration has greenlit drilling in the Arctic Refuge, revived the Ambler Road, gutted protections in the Western Arctic, and paved the way for a road through Izembek. Every one of these actions rewards polluters at the expense of the Alaska Native communities that have defended these lands for generations. 

“Among the most reckless is the plan to open the entire Arctic Refuge coastal plain to oil and gas drilling. The Arctic Refuge is one of the last truly wild places on Earth: home to caribou, polar bears, migratory birds, and Indigenous peoples who have depended on its lands and waters since time immemorial. Its tundra and wildlife are some of the most ecologically sensitive on the planet, and once they’re destroyed, they’re gone forever.

“Trump is doing what no president before him dared: sacrificing a national refuge to please his Big Oil donors. He doesn’t care about the science, the law, or the people who depend on the refuge. Every decision this administration has made in Alaska follows the same playbook: dismantle environmental protections, ignore tribal sovereignty, and hand public lands to Big Oil. It’s reckless, corrupt, and tells you everything about this White House’s priorities.

“If this White House spent half as much energy helping Americans as it does helping oil companies and building a private $300 million gilded ballroom, maybe Americans wouldn’t be wondering if they’re going to be able to afford their next utility bill or trip to the grocery store.

“Democrats will fight these destructive actions every step of the way with every tool we have at our disposal. Alaskans deserve better than this sellout.”

Background

This week’s coordinated series of actions represents the Trump administration’s most sweeping assault on Alaska’s public lands in modern history, targeting every major protected area in the state. On October 23, the Department of the Interior issued a new Record of Decision (ROD) reopening 1.56 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing, rescinding the 2024 Biden-era plan and reinstating the first Trump administration’s 2020 program. The decision restores leases held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), setting the stage for new lease sales under a plan that lacks adequate safeguards for wildlife, subsistence, and the environment. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum also finalized a land exchange with the King Cove Corporation to allow construction of a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, one of North America’s most critical migratory bird habitats.

Secretary Burgum also announced that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have reissued right-of-way permits for the 211-mile Ambler Road, following Trump’s October 6 directive. The administration simultaneously conveyed nearly 23,600 acres near the Ambler corridor to the State of Alaska and announced a $35.6 million federal investment for a 10 percent stake in Trilogy Metals, a Canadian company with mining interests in the region.

The offensive extends across the Western Arctic. On October 21, the BLM issued a call for nominations for a new oil and gas lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A)—the first since 2019—covering at least 4 million acres as required by the Republican-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A day earlier, the Office of Management and Budget began reviewing the rescission of the 2024 NPR-A Protection Rule, a move that will erase safeguards for more than 13 million acres of Special Areas and strip mitigation requirements for development impacts on subsistence resources and wildlife.

Together, these actions represent a full-scale assault on some of the most ecologically sensitive and culturally important lands on Earth, while disregarding the sovereignty and subsistence rights of Alaska Native communities who have defended these places since time immemorial.

Yesterday, Ranking Member Huffman denounced the Trump administration’s parallel effortsto open nearly all U.S. coasts, including the Atlantic, Pacific, and sensitive Arctic waters, to new offshore drilling amid the ongoing government shutdown.

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