WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of the Interior has rescinded a 2024 Bureau of Land Management rule governing the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, clearing the way for expanded oil development across the 23-million-acre reserve and marking one of the Trump administration’s most sweeping reversals of Biden-era energy policy.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the action follows direct orders from President Donald Trump and restores a regulatory framework that North Slope leaders and state officials have long sought.
“By rescinding the 2024 rule, we are following the direction set by President Trump to unlock Alaska’s energy potential, create jobs for North Slope communities and strengthen American energy security,” Burgum said. “This action restores common-sense management and ensures responsible development benefits both Alaska and the nation.”
The NPR-A, established in 1923 as a dedicated petroleum reserve, has become a focal point in the broader debate over domestic energy development. The rollback shifts management of the reserve back to a model first implemented in 1977, removing restrictions imposed under the previous administration and reducing what Interior described as burdensome barriers to production.
Under the new framework, the Bureau of Land Management will operate under 2025 regulations aligned with longstanding development rules, a move officials say will accelerate leasing decisions, support national security demands and expand economic opportunities for Alaska’s North Slope communities.
Interior said the reversal is part of a wider redesign of federal resource policy in Alaska. The department recently withdrew three special-area directives that had expanded conservation limits across vast parts of the state. Officials said those documents stifled development and cut off economic potential for local communities while offering little measurable benefit.
The final rule rescinding the 2024 restrictions is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register today, Nov. 17.
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