The Trump administration’s latest attempt to encourage drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge landed with a thud on Friday. An oil lease auction for part of the 19.3 million-acre refuge drew just two bidders—neither a major oil company—that together committed $3.7 million for five tracts covering 72,000 acres out of the 689,000 acres on offer. The participants were Hex Energy, an Alaska gas firm, and the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, which would likely have to hire outside companies to drill, the Washington Post reports. A Bureau of Land Management official described interest as “solid,” while the American Petroleum Institute pointed to wider leasing “certainty” but didn’t directly address the turnout.
Regardless of the interest, the move further opens the door to possible development in the pristine region, per the AP; the sale is a centerpiece of the administration’s push to expand energy development across Alaska. The Gwich’in Steering Committee called the auction a “failure” and pledged to keep fighting drilling in what it describes as a sacred caribou calving ground. Environmental groups are already in court, per the Post, arguing the plan violates federal wildlife laws and threatens polar bears and other species. Some North Slope Iñupiat organizations back development for the tax revenue and infrastructure it brings, while others oppose it and criticize the rollback of Biden-era protections. The lackluster bidding echoed a 2021 ANWR sale that also drew scant interest and was later unwound by the Biden administration.
