Sponsors (110)
The bill permanently protects the ANWR coastal plain—safeguarding habitat, subsistence uses, and long‑term environmental benefits for local and public stakeholders—while foregoing potential local energy jobs and lease revenue and imposing some access limits under wilderness management.
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 drilling, preserving habitat and preventing industrial development on those lands.
Indigenous peoples and local residents: continued ability to access subsistence resources and enjoy wilderness recreation because development is barred and the area will be managed under Wilderness Act protections.
Regional communities and the public: preservation of ecosystem services (wildlife habitat, carbon storage) that provide long-term environmental and climate benefits.
Energy-sector workers and nearby communities: elimination of potential oil and gas production on the protected acreage reduces prospects for local extraction jobs and related economic activity.
Taxpayers and governments: foregone federal and state lease and royalty revenue that might have funded services or reduced deficits.
Tribal residents and local users: some subsistence or access patterns could be restricted if wilderness management limits motorized use or infrastructure needed for traditional practices.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Removes the statutory authorization for oil and gas leasing in ANWR's coastal plain and designates ~1,559,538 acres there as wilderness under the Wilderness Act.
Introduced April 29, 2025 by Jared Huffman · Last progress April 29, 2025
Repeals the prior statutory authorization that allowed oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) coastal plain and designates about 1,559,538 acres of that coastal plain as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The designated area must be managed by the Interior Department under the Wilderness Act consistent with existing wilderness protections in ANWR. The bill does not appropriate funds or create new programs; it removes the specific statutory leasing authorization and changes the land-use status of the specified coastal plain to wilderness, which limits future development and extractive activities on that acreage.