Sponsors (105)
The bill permanently protects Arctic Refuge lands, wildlife, and subsistence uses—benefiting indigenous and rural communities and the environment—while forgoing potential local jobs, lease revenues, and some domestic energy development and associated economic activity.
Indigenous and nearby rural communities retain protected lands and subsistence resources and face lower risk of oil-related environmental harm because drilling authorization for the Arctic Refuge is removed.
Wildlife, biodiversity, and ecological services (including carbon storage and migration corridors) across roughly 1.56 million acres are preserved, maintaining ecosystem functions and climate benefits.
Taxpayers face a lower risk of future federal regulatory and cleanup costs tied to oil development because potential drilling and its liabilities are avoided.
Workers, local small businesses, and rural communities lose anticipated jobs, contracts, and local economic activity that would have come from Arctic Refuge oil, gas, or mineral development.
Federal and state governments — and thus taxpayers and local governments — lose projected lease revenues and royalties that would have funded services and infrastructure.
Energy companies, utilities, and investors lose expected access to acreage and development rights, creating regulatory uncertainty and modestly reducing future domestic oil supply and related economic activity.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the statutory authority created by Public Law 115–97 that allowed oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain and designates about 1,559,538 acres of that coastal plain as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Secretary of the Interior must manage the newly designated area under the Wilderness Act as part of the existing wilderness within the refuge.
Introduced April 29, 2025 by Jared Huffman · Last progress April 29, 2025