Oil companies will no longer be required to conduct environmental reviews before exploring for fossil fuel reservoirs in the Western Arctic, the largest tract of federally managed public land in the United States.
The Bureau of Land Management announced a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act for winter oil and gas exploration in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, also known as the Western Arctic. Published Friday in the Federal Register, the exemption comes as the Trump administration moves to accelerate oil and gas drilling in Alaska.
The categorical exclusion will allow developers to “more nimbly locate energy resources in the Petroleum Reserve,” increasing domestic energy supply and lowering costs for the public, said Kevin Pendergast, Alaska State Director for the Bureau of Land Management. The agency said its decision reflects a “long history” of exploration in the region without “significant or lasting environmental impact.”
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