Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential

The order directs federal agency heads to rescind, revoke, or moratorialize dozens of specific land-use restrictions and records of decision affecting Alaska resource development issued between January 20, 2021 and January 20, 2025. The Secretary of the Interior receives 23 enumerated directives, including: withdrawing a 2021 halt on ANWR Coastal Plain oil and gas activities; reinstating pre-2021 ANWR leasing rules and the 2020 record of decision; placing immediate moratoriums on 2024 records of decision for ANWR, the Ambler Road, and the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska; rescinding two BLM rules protecting the NPR-A; reinstating six Public Land Orders; and reviewing Alaska Native land-trust guidance for consistency with Alaska statehood and land laws. The Secretary of Agriculture must immediately moratorialize the Biden-era Tongass National Forest roadless rule and reinstate the 2020 version.

The order also directs expedited permitting for the Alaska LNG Project and its pipeline and export infrastructure, requires the Army Corps of Engineers to assist the Governor of Alaska with transportation infrastructure clearance, and directs a joint Interior–Defense assessment of Alaska energy export capacity including the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. The order creates no enforceable individual rights and instructs agencies to act consistent with applicable law and available appropriations.

Alaska oil and gas leaseholders in ANWR and the NPR-A whose permits were canceled or restricted; energy companies pursuing the Alaska LNG Project; mining interests along the Ambler Road corridor; Alaska Native corporations and subsistence users affected by land-trust and public lands management changes; and the State of Alaska, which receives expanded consultation rights.

Existing ANWR and NPR-A leases placed under moratorium or canceled during the prior administration may be reinstated, unlocking new drilling activity. Companies pursuing the Alaska LNG Project gain a formal federal mandate to expedite permits. Alaskans dependent on subsistence hunting and fishing face reshuffled federal land management priorities on public lands.

The Secretary of the Interior bears the heaviest implementation load, with 23 enumerated actions ranging from immediate moratoriums (self-executing through the chain of command) to new comprehensive environmental analyses that will take considerably longer. The Secretary of Agriculture handles the Tongass roadless rule in parallel. Army Corps requests must be routed through the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Interior, and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy before initiation. The Alaska energy assessment must be submitted to the President but carries no fixed deadline. Actions requiring rescission of final rules will likely require notice-and-comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act, adding time and litigation exposure to many directives.