Sponsors (108)
Introduced April 29, 2025 by Jared Huffman · Last progress April 29, 2025
The bill permanently protects a large portion of the ANWR coastal plain—safeguarding habitat, carbon storage, and subsistence/recreation for local and Indigenous communities—while foregoing potential local jobs and federal/state revenue (and introducing some access restrictions under wilderness rules).
Residents of nearby tribal and rural communities and the broader public: permanent protection of 1.56 million acres of the ANWR coastal plain from oil and gas leasing and development, preserving wildlife habitat, ecosystem services, and carbon storage.
Indigenous people, local residents, and visitors: preservation of subsistence resources, traditional uses, and wilderness recreational opportunities and reduced risk of local pollution and ecosystem disruption from industrial development.
All Americans (government and stakeholders): removes statutory authorization for new leasing in the protected area, creating legal permanence and regulatory certainty that prevents future leasing proposals on these lands.
Energy-sector workers and nearby communities: loss of potential oil and gas jobs and related local economic activity that would have come from development of the protected acreage.
Taxpayers and state/local governments: reduction or loss of prospective federal, state, and local revenue from leases and royalties that could have funded public services or reduced deficits.
Tribal members and local subsistence users: wilderness management restrictions (e.g., limits on motorized access or infrastructure) could constrain some traditional access or harvesting practices despite protecting the land overall.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Repeals the prior statutory authorization for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic Refuge coastal plain and designates about 1,559,538 acres there as wilderness under the Wilderness Act.
Repeals the federal law that authorized oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain and designates about 1,559,538 acres of that coastal plain as wilderness under the Wilderness Act. The Secretary of the Interior must manage the newly designated area according to the Wilderness Act consistent with existing wilderness within the refuge. The measure contains no new funding or deadlines.