National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska

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Photo Credit: Gary Braasch
KEY FACTS
  • Size: 23.5 million acres – the largest single unit of public lands in the nation, roughly the size of Indiana.
  • Protection History: 1923 – President Harding set aside Reserve lands under the US Navy. 1976 – administration of the Reserve was transferred to the Department of Interior.
  • Most Recent Protection: President Obama protected 11 million acres of Special Areas in the Reserve through a comprehensive management planning process finalized in 2013.
  • Oil and Gas Development Threats: In January 2021, President Trump finalized a new management plan opening 18 million acres (80% of the Reserve) to oil and gas leasing. ConocoPhillips currently owns a majority of leases held in the Reserve.
  • Climate Change: Rising Arctic temperatures are leading to melting permafrost, receding sea ice, coastal erosion, changes in vegetation growth patterns, altered caribou migration routes, increased forest fires, shrinking lakes, and more.
  • Wildlife: The Reserve contains critical habitat for millions of migratory birds, as well as grizzly bears, walrus, wolves, endangered beluga whales, and caribou.
  • Significance to Alaska Natives: Alaska Natives live off these lands and waters, and the Reserve provides vital subsistence resources to its surrounding communities. Places like Nuiqsut, on the eastern edge of the Reserve, are experiencing increased health impacts from the oil and gas activities surrounding the community.

The National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (Reserve) is the largest single unit of public lands in the nation. Encompassing over 23 million acres, the Reserve harbors rich and vital wild lands and wildlife, important in their own right and to the Inupiat people of Alaska’s North Slope for their subsistence culture. President Harding established the Naval Petroleum Reserve - Alaska in 1923. Congress transferred management of the area from the Navy to the Interior Department in 1976 and required the Secretary of Interior to provide “maximum protection” for its critical biological and cultural resources.

In 2013, the Department of the Interior (DOI) adopted a management plan that received strong public support and put in place sensible conservation protections for 11 million acres in the Reserve, setting aside five Special Areas of exceptional wildlife and wilderness value: Teshekpuk Lake, Colville River, Utukok River Uplands, Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay. DOI spent years working with the tribal community, local governments, the state of Alaska, the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group and the public on the management plan. The vast majority of commenters supported strong protections for key areas and resources.

The Trump administration completed a process to redo the management plan finalized in 2013, seeking to undo protections for designated Special Areas of the Reserve. The Trump management plan prioritizes oil and gas development at the expense of unique subsistence and ecological values, going as far as to eviscerate the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area and eliminate the Colville River Special Area. The new management plan opens a total of more than 18 million acres or 80% of the Reserve to oil and gas development, at the expense of previously protected areas. One of the reasons the Trump administration moved to open protected areas in the Reserve is ConocoPhillips interest in more acreage within the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. ConocoPhillips is doubling down on development in the Reserve, pushing forward with current projects and buying hundreds of thousands of acres for future development, continuing to build upon its growing spider web of oil and gas development projects. On day one, the Biden administration ordered a review of ConnocoPhillips' massive Willow project. Please see below for talking points, fact sheets and more on what we're doing to defend the Reserve.

Fact Sheets | Congressional Letters | Public Letters | Maps


Talking Points

  • Protecting the Reserve’s special areas, wildlife, and natural values is required by law. The Reserve is federal land with a multi-use mandate, including energy development and conservation. When the Navy transferred the Reserve to the Department of the Interior, Congress wrote a specific law for this land that called protecting wildlife, surface resources, and special areas, including conservation. Congress called out Teshekpuk Lake as a special area worthy of maximum protection.
  • Science drove the development of the 2013 land management plan. This management plan represented a big leap forward in our understanding of the science and spatial data, and the area protected under this plan reflects this greater scientific understanding. The public record leading up to the 2013 IAP contains strong justification for recognizing and protecting special areas and wildlife. New scientific understanding has added to the rationale for protecting these areas.
  • Arctic oil will exacerbate the climate crisis. The Reserve holds an estimated 8.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the USGS. This has the potential to release more than 5 billion metric tons of CO2-eq. This is equivalent to the annual emissions from an estimated 1,200 coal-fired power plants.
  • There is substantial exploration and development across the Arctic and in the Reserve. This development is already causing impacts to fish, wildlife, subsistence, and other values. Re-doing the current management plan now is unnecessary and strains our federal resources in Alaska. We should instead focus on studying the impacts from today’s development, in order to make better informed decisions moving forward.

Fact Sheets

Congressional Letters

Public Letters

Maps

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