On October 10, the House of Representatives introduced a joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to overturn the most recent Record of Decision (ROD) on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) leasing program, issued in December 2024. Under the CRA, if both chambers of Congress pass the joint resolution of disapproval, the 2024 ROD will be overturned, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)—the agency overseeing the ANWR oil and gas leasing program—will be barred from issuing a similar “rule” (including a comparable ROD), even if a new Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is conducted.

This attempt to use the CRA to repeal the 2024 ROD is another effort to open up all 1,565,500 acres of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas leasing, despite previous lease sales consistently drawing little industry interest and yielding abysmal results for taxpayers.

On his first day in office, President Trump issued an executive order that rescinded the 2024 ROD and reinstated the ROD issued in 2020 during the president’s first term. Department of the Interior is also anticipated to announce new lease sales as soon as this month and reaffirm the president’s EO to revert to the 2020 ROD. Congress has followed suit and duplicated these administrative actions. The recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, P.L. 119-21) requires BLM to hold four new oil and gas lease sales in ANWR, each offering at least 400,000 acres. The law already mandates these lease sales follow the same terms and conditions as those in the 2020 ROD, issued by the first Trump administration, which allowed all Coastal Plain acres to be leased with minimal restrictions on surface-disturbing activities.

In contrast, the 2024 ROD offered for sale only the congressionally mandated minimum of 400,000 acres, with increased surface development restrictions and additional lease stipulations, after accounting for factors like development potential and protections for key resources and wildlife.

ANWR is the largest refuge in the National Wildlife Refuge System, with nearly 40 percent designated as Wilderness. Its 1.5-million-acre, non-Wilderness Coastal Plain—referred to as the 1002 area—can only be considered for development if Congress authorizes it. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA, P.L. 115-97) opened the 1002 area for oil and gas development, mandating BLM hold two lease sales within seven years, each offering at least 400,000 acres. These sales were projected to raise almost $1 billion to offset the TCJA’s $1.9 trillion price tag but ended up generating less than one percent of that amount.

After completing an EIS in 2019, BLM issued a 2020 ROD making all 1.5 million acres of the 1002 area available for lease. The first lease sale in January 2021 offered 22 parcels covering 1,089,053 acres. Of these, 11 parcels sold. Only two were bought by private companies—the rest were acquired by Alaska’s state-owned corporation, which rescinded bids on two parcels shortly after the auction. Ultimately, the sale raised just $16.5 million (with federal receipts only $8.2 million, as Alaska gets half the revenue).

A week after the January 2021 lease sale, the Biden Administration paused the ANWR leasing program. In June 2021, the Department of the Interior pointed to serious flaws and legal deficiencies in the underlying 2019 EIS and 2020 ROD and maintained the pause until a new EIS was completed. The two private companies canceled their leases in 2022. In 2023, the remaining seven federal oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge were rescinded, but a court order in March 2025 reinstated them.

BLM completed the supplemental EIS in November 2024 and issued the updated ROD a month later. Under this 2024 ROD, the second auction was held on January 10, 2025, offering 400,000 acres—the minimum required by law. No industry bids were received, resulting in no revenue for federal or Alaska taxpayers.

While the two lease sales generated less than 1 percent of the $905 million taxpayers were promised, the OBBBA once again used projected ANWR lease sale revenue to offset spending, estimating $452 million in new revenue from FY2025 to 2034. However, TCS analysis suggests even under optimistic scenarios, future ANWR lease sales are likely to bring in just $3 and $30 million in federal revenue, based on 20-year historical bid averages for Alaska’s North Slope.

The promises of lease revenue that may never materialize come with substantial risks. Drilling in ANWR would place the burden of future administrative costs and environmental liabilities on taxpayers— impacting outdoor recreationists, hunters, and anglers, and the general public. This latest effort to overturn the 2024 ROD is another blow to taxpayers, who are already footing the bill for administrative expenses and who may be left responsible for cleanup and restoration in a sensitive, remote region.