The board of Alaska’s economic development agency has approved spending up to $190 million to advance contentious plans for oil exploration and leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The budget, proposed by staff, includes up to $175 million for a type of preliminary exploration called seismic testing, which employs sound waves to identify oil and gas deposits deep underground.
Board members on May 13 also authorized the agency to spend up to $15 million to bid on new areas of the refuge’s coastal plain — a swath of tundra along its northern edge — in an ongoing federal lease sale.
The board of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, voted 6-1 in favor of the proposal, marking a step toward development in the refuge.
“We have studied this for a long time, and the time for studying is over,” said board member Albert Fogle. “It’s time for development.”
Board member Andrew Guy, president of the Indigenous-owned Calista Corp. in Western Alaska, was the sole vote against the proposal, citing a lack of detail.
Currently no oil is produced in the refuge, a South Carolina-sized federal wildlife area in Alaska’s northeastern corner. Opening it to drilling has long been a goal of Alaska politicians and local Iñupiaq leaders, including in the only village located within the refuge, Kaktovik.
“Development is not theoretical for Kaktovik. It’s a pathway to self-determination and local jobs, and long-term stability,” Charles Lampe, chief executive of Kaktovik Iñupiat Corp., said in a presentation at the May 13 meeting.
But proposed oil development also has generated intense opposition from conservation groups and Gwich’in leaders in the state’s Interior, who say that drilling would threaten wildlife and the refuge’s wilderness character.
The Trump administration held the first ever lease sale in the refuge in 2021, garnering minimal interest from oil companies. AIDEA was the top bidder, purchasing leases across 365,000 acres of the coastal plain.
The Trump administration is currently taking sealed bids on another 700,000 acres. Results will be announced June 5.
Critics of the state’s plans, including several who testified at the May 13 meeting, question whether officials should spend public funds on new leases and exploration — which comes with no guarantee of future profits or finding economic deposits of oil.
“We should be looking at other more sustainable, renewable ways to invest our money,” said Tonya Garnett, who is Gwich’in from Arctic Village, a community near the southern edge of the refuge. “This is not a smart decision to go in there and ruin an ecosystem that provides resources for thousands of years.”
The resolution authorizes AIDEA to spend money on “permitting and regulatory work” and “the acquisition, processing and interpretation” of advanced seismic data. It does not authorize “drilling or well execution” — though one board member, at the meeting, urged AIDEA’s staff to start looking for a drilling rig.
This article was originally published in the Northern Journal.
