Map by BLM
The Biden Administration’s NPR-A policies heavily restricted oil and gas leasing across much of the reserve.
North Slope community leaders are also supportive. “The decision by the BLM is anoth - er important milestone in our effort to advance our Inupiaq self-determina - tion on our North Slope homelands,” said Nagruk Harcharek, president of VOICE, a development advocacy orga - nization. “It underscores what VOICE has always known and argued in court on behalf of our 21 member organi - zations: that the Biden Administra - tion’s rule affecting our NPR-A lands is deeply flawed and poses significant risks to our communities and econ - omy. “We applaud this development and look forward to collaborative engage - ment with the federal government and Congress about durable poli - cies that support North Slope Inupiat self-determination.”
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regulations that were in place prior to May 2024. Those have long guided develop - ment in the National Petroleum Re - serve in Alaska while incorporating protections for wildlife, subsistence and surface values through the Inte - grated Activity Plan adopted for the NPR-A. The proposed rule will be open to public comment for 60 days. Alaska’s two U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, voiced their strong support for the regulation rollback. Sullivan called the 2024 rule change “the “most egregious effort of the Biden Administration,” and so that one of his the top priorities “is to get the NPR-A back to where it was supposed to be by the intention of Congress, to develop oil and to remove all the regulations that the Biden put on NPR-A.”
Photo by Judy Patrick Nagruk Harcharek, President, Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat.
— Tim Bradner
THE LINK: SUMMER 2025
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