Sponsors (110)
The bill permanently protects large areas of ANWR—preserving habitat, ecosystem services, and subsistence/recreational use—but does so by forgoing potential oil and gas development, local jobs, and lease revenue and may modestly affect energy supply and some access uses.
Tribal and rural residents and the general public will have 1.56 million acres of the ANWR coastal plain permanently protected from drilling and development, preserving wildlife habitat, ecosystem services (including carbon storage) and reducing local pollution.
Indigenous and nearby local communities retain subsistence hunting/fishing and wilderness recreational opportunities under Wilderness Act management, helping protect cultural practices and local outdoor economies.
The bill ends statutory authorization for new oil and gas leasing in ANWR, creating clearer, more durable federal policy that prevents future leasing and industrial development in the refuge.
Energy-sector workers and nearby rural communities lose potential local jobs and economic activity that oil and gas development in ANWR might have created.
Federal, state, and local governments and taxpayers forgo prospective lease and royalty revenue from ANWR that could have funded services or reduced deficits.
Utilities, energy companies, and consumers could face increased reliance on other domestic or imported energy sources if ANWR development would have boosted supply, with implications for energy costs and national security.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the ANWR coastal plain oil and gas leasing authorization and designates ~1,559,538 acres of the coastal plain as wilderness under the Wilderness Act.
Official title: To amend Public Law 115-97 (commonly known as the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act") to repeal the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas program, and to preserve the Arctic coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, as wilderness in recognition of its extraordinary natural ecosystems and for the permanent good of present and future generations of Americans.
Introduced April 29, 2025 by Jared Huffman · Last progress April 29, 2025
Repeals the law that authorized oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) coastal plain and designates about 1,559,538 acres of that coastal plain as wilderness, bringing the area into the National Wilderness Preservation System and directing the Interior Secretary to manage it under the Wilderness Act. The change ends the specific statutory authorization for ANWR leasing and provides permanent federal wilderness protection for the mapped coastal plain area upon enactment.