Arctic Refuge lease sale flops, with zero bids offered

Today the federal Bureau of Land Management announced that no bids were submitted in response to a second legally mandated oil and gas lease sale for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, proving the sale to be an even bigger failure than the first. No companies - including a state-owned corporation - the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority - showed up for the sale.

AIDEA was the largest bidder in a 2021 lease sale, which was held in the final days of the first Trump administration and marred by legal deficiencies. All leases issued in that sale were either voluntarily surrendered or - in AIDEA's case - canceled by the Interior Department due to those legal deficiencies.

In response to today's news, The Wilderness Society issued the following statement from Alaska Senior Manager Meda DeWitt:

"The oil industry's glaring lack of interest in this sale - combined with the undeniable realities of climate change and massive public opposition to drilling in the Arctic Refuge - should make it obvious to everyone that there is no legitimate reason for the federal government to have a leasing program for the sacred land of the coastal plain.

"Besides being economically unsound, attempting to drill there would cause irreparable harm to the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd and threaten the Indigenous communities that rely on the caribou to sustain their people and cultures," DeWitt added. "It is time for Congress to recognize the absurdity of this leasing program and take action to permanently protect this sacred land."

Today's lease sale was required by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that opened the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas leasing.

At 19.3 million acres, the Arctic Refuge is America's largest wildlife refuge and provides habitat for caribou, polar bear and migrating birds from across the globe, and a diverse range of wilderness lands.

Oil and gas drilling would have devastating impacts on this pristine and fragile ecosystem, caused by the massive infrastructure needed to extract and transport oil, as well as inevitable spills of oil and other toxic substances.