On March 12, the White House announced that it will take action to extend preservation protections to 16 million total acres of land and water in the Alaskan Arctic. Thirteen million acres within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) – federal land within Alaska’s North Slope Borough that has been set aside for oil and gas leasing – will be designated as “Special Areas,” restricting oil and gas leasing and development within the designated areas indefinitely. The White House also issued protections banning future oil and gas leasing on roughly 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea offshore of the NPR-A.

Just before announcing the new suite of designations, President Biden formally approved the Willow project, an oil and gas development within the NPR-A and one of the largest oil developments of its kind in the country. According to the project developer ConocoPhillips Alaska’s proposal, the Willow project has the potential to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil a day, equal to 1.5 percent of total U.S. oil production. The project will involve significant infrastructure development in the region, including almost 200 wells, processing and operating facilities, 267 miles of pipeline and over 450 miles of gravel and ice roads.

NACo supports designations of federal lands that are approved by borough governments and supported by local stakeholders. In cases where such state and local government approvals have been obtained, continued federal coordination and consultation with state, borough, and tribal governments and consistency with their natural resource management plans should be required to the maximum extent allowed by law.

Like any other permitted activity on public land, energy and mineral resource development and production should be conducted in coordination with impacted boroughs and consistent with local natural resource plans to the maximum extent allowed by law. NACo supports the development and implementation of comprehensive and consistent national policies and regulations for energy and mineral production on public lands.

Every effort should be made by land management agencies to reduce obstructions that cause significant project delays and costs, including conducting oil, gas and mineral lease sales on all federal lands categorized in their land use plans for such leasing. NACo supports the resumption of regular and robust onshore leasing on federally owned lands where appropriate to maximize the royalty revenue streams for natural resource conservation, recreation, restoration and protection programs.

NACo will continue to engage with federal partners on public lands issues in the Alaskan Arctic and will keep members informed of any updates.