No company was close to drilling in the refuge. Two companies that bought leases during the Trump administration later gave them up.
A state agency, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, still holds seven leases. But Haaland’s cancellation forecloses the possibility it might sell them to a company to develop them. Her announcement also seems aimed at dissuading any company from even thinking about drilling in the refuge, even as the department is planning its second legally required lease sale there.
Haaland also announced a proposed rule to make protections on federal land to the west, in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska, more durable. It closely follows the contours of protections and does not directly impinge on ConocoPhillips’ work on its Willow project, which is already underway.
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