VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 3 | SUMMER 2025
PRESIDENT'S PRIORITIES FOCUS ON ALASKA ENERGY
Committed to Alaska for more than 50 years. We measure success not only by what we do but how we do it. Our team is dedicated to the safe and responsible development of oil, ensuring a healthy economy for future generations of Alaskans.
Trump delivering on promise to unleash energy development BY TIM BRADNER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP PROMISED TO UNLEASH A NEW ERA OF ENERGY DEVELOP- MENT IN ALASKA, AND SO FAR HE’S ON THE ROAD TO DELIVERING ON THAT. The federal budget reconciliation bill passed by Congress and now signed by the President, called his “Big Beautiful Bill,” puts into law many of Trump’s priorities for Alaska. HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS: n New lease sales are mandated on federal lands in the Arctic National Wild- life Refuge, or ANWR; the National Petro- leum Reserve-Alaska, or NPR-A, and in Outer Continental Shelf waters of Lower Cook Inlet. n Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s restrictive rules and expanded no-drilling areas in the NPR-A are re- versed, reinstating prior land management rules in effect for years and returning the 23-million-acre NPR-A to its original pur- pose as a petroleum reserve. n A repeal of the national forest “roadless rule,” which blocked road con- struction in the large Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska and hindered timber harvesting and community devel- opment. The roadless repeal will help in efforts to breathe new life into the small state’s forest industry but there are other problems in timber land management in the Tongass that now need attention. A REVAMP OF NEPA One of the most consequential sections of the new law is a major restructuring of the National Environmental Protection Act, or NEPA, that allows project sponsors to secure an expedited schedule for envi-
ate was a section requiring Congress to approve most major federal regulations before they went into effect. REVOKING OLD PUBLIC LAND ORDERS There were other important changes in the final law that favor Alaska’s resource industries, however. An important one re- vokes an old federal Public Land Order, or PLO, that blocked the state of Alaska from selecting lands for its statehood land enti- tlement in a corridor from the North Slope to Interior Alaska. This is parallel and near the right-of- way for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System but is a much wider area that includes lands prospective for mineral discoveries. Also, changes were made in other old Public Land Orders, mainly in Interior Alaska, that incudes lifting of restrictions on mining exploration. This will open up several million acres for exploration. The state and Alaska’s congressional delegation have worked for years to get old Public Land Orders lifted, many which date from the 1970s. Those efforts were fiercely opposed by conservation groups. The new federal law revokes the orders. DOWNSIDES IN NEW LAW There are, of course, some down- sides for Alaska in the new law. One is the changes in Medicaid rules that while aimed at lowering costs on a national level will result on losses of Medicaid eligibility for Alaskans with modest incomes. This will reduce business for health care pro- viders in the state including many offering primary care as well as community hos- pital who are already operating with slim margins. The loss of access to health care will put burdens on hospital emergency rooms who by law cannot deny care. Hospitals’ uncom- pensated care costs are typically passed on to other patients mainly under private em- ployer health plans. This will drive up the cost of health care for private employers.
ronmental reviews with the payment of a fee. The expedited schedule would include a one-year timeline for completion of an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, for federal permits for projects. There is also a 180-day timeline for the more streamlined Environmental Assessment, or EA, done for some projects. This is an important change because previously some EIS documents were taking years to complete. The new law sets the fee at 125 percent of the estimated cost of the EIS or EA if it is prepared by a federal agency or if the en- vironmental reviews are done by the proj- ect developer, 125 percent of the agency’s estimated cost to supervise preparation of the EIS or EA. This section, criticized by conservation groups as “pay to play,” was toned down in the U.S. Senate from the version of the budget bill that passed the U.S. House. The House-passed bill included limitations on court challenges to EIS or EA documents. One other provision modified in the Sen- President Donald Trump is hoping to fast-track future energy development across the country with a focus on Alaska.
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ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW SUMMER 2025
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