Interior Department Moves to Roll Back Alaska Drilling Rule

The Biden-era rule that put stricter limits on oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve is on the chopping block. This week, the Department of the Interior announced plans to rescind the 2024 regulation, calling it an overreach that got in the way of responsible energy development.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum didn’t mince words. “Congress was clear: the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska was set aside to support America’s energy security through responsible development,” he said. “The 2024 rule ignored that mandate, prioritizing obstruction over production.”

The reserve is massive—about 23 million acres on Alaska’s North Slope—and was originally set aside during the 1970s oil crisis. According to the Interior, the rule placed unnecessary red tape on roughly 13 million acres marked as “Special Areas,” where drilling was effectively discouraged unless companies could prove it wouldn’t harm the land.

Now, the department wants to revert to the older rules—those in place before May 2024—arguing they still protect wildlife and cultural resources without stalling economic development. The move aligns with a pair of Trump administration executive orders from earlier this year that push for boosting domestic energy production, particularly in Alaska.

If this sounds like déjà vu, that’s because it is. This latest move has reopened a long-standing battle between energy advocates and environmental groups—and the response was swift on both sides.

Supporters of the rollback see it as a win for energy independence.

“These rules weren’t about conservation; they were about control,” said Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan. “We have the resources, the tech, and the obligation to use them—to fuel our country safely and responsibly.”

But environmental groups and many Indigenous leaders argue this is another hit to a fragile Arctic ecosystem already under threat from climate change and industrial expansion.

“This is a blatant step backward,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. “The 2024 rule was designed to protect ecologically critical areas and the communities that rely on them. Scrapping it means opening the door to more unchecked drilling.”

Ground-Level Concerns

Local voices are sounding the alarm too. Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, a former mayor of Nuiqsut—a village within the reserve—has long opposed aggressive drilling near subsistence lands.

“Our communities depend on healthy land and wildlife,” she said. “When oil development moves too fast, we pay the price—with our health, our food, and our culture.”

The Teshekpuk Lake area, for instance, is one of the most sensitive parts of the reserve, home to migratory birds, caribou, and vital hunting grounds. It's also one of the Special Areas the 2024 rule sought to shield.

Meanwhile, industry groups say the 2024 rule made it nearly impossible to move forward with new projects. Critics called it overly broad and warned it would slow down the permitting process and scare off investment.

A Look Back—and Ahead

This isn’t the first time development in the National Petroleum Reserve has sparked a national debate. The rules around this land have changed with the political winds, and the new proposal is just the latest swing of the pendulum.

The Interior Department insists the rollback won’t mean a free-for-all. Protections under the older rules—like those in the Integrated Activity Plan—will still be in place. But critics argue that those safeguards aren’t nearly strong enough.

For now, the proposal is just that—a proposal. It’ll be published in the Federal Register, and the public will have 60 days to weigh in before anything is finalized. Legal challenges from environmental groups seem almost certain if the rule is fully reversed.

Miller put it plainly: “What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. This decision has consequences far beyond Alaska.”

As the fight over America’s energy future continues, Alaska once again finds itself at the heart of it—caught between oil rigs and caribou herds, national policy and local tradition.