Alaska Wilderness League

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Feb 20, 2026
Contact: Anja Semanco | 724-967-2777 | anja@alaskawild.org 

Today, after the Department of the Interior opened 2.1 million acres in Alaska’s Dalton Corridor, Kristen Miller, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League, released the following statement: 

“At a time when pro-oil politicians are aggressively pursuing megaprojects like the Alaska LNG project and Ambler Road, we need public land protections more than ever. We must ensure that the public interest and sustainable uses are safe in places like the Arctic,” said Kristen Miller, Executive Director of Alaska Wilderness League.  “Today’s action sets the stage for the state of Alaska to take ownership of millions of acres of our nation’s public lands. The result would be fewer protections for subsistence, conservation, and other sustainable land uses. It’s yet another attack on federal public lands in Alaska, where short term profits and industrialization are being prioritized over the people in state who rely on clean air, lands, waters, and healthy wildlife populations.” 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: Feb 11, 2026
Contact: Anja Semanco | 724-967-2777 | anja@alaskawild.org 

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration released final details for a sweeping federal oil and gas lease sale in the Western Arctic (National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska), opening millions of acres of globally significant wildlife habitat the size of New Jersey to industrial development. The Detailed Statement of Sale—and specifically how it offers up areas of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area that have not been made available for leasing for decades—demonstrates that no place is too sacred to drill for the Trump administration. 

“The details of this lease sale show that companies like ConocoPhillips won’t stop with Willow and that this administration will always put profit over people,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League. “Just weeks after the complete collapse of an oil rig in the nearby village of Nuiqsut, this administration is throwing open the doors to some of the most sensitive, wildlife-rich places in the Arctic and gambling with landscapes that sustain communities, caribou herds, and millions of birds. The financial and environmental risks here far outweigh any speculative profits. Fortunately, smart companies and investors know a bad bet when they see one.” 

The Western Arctic sale offers tracts that surround the vast majority of Teshekpuk Lake, including areas in the far north of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area that haven’t been offered for sale in decades. Careful consideration of science and community input by past administrations deemed these areas too sensitive to drill, making this sale an outlier from other lease sales that occurred in the past three decades.   

The agency will accept minimum bids as low as $5 per acre in western parcels, setting a small price for the potential industrialization of Alaska public lands. This reflects a long-standing pattern of decline in the region dating back to the large 1999 lease sale, when ConocoPhillips acquired the leases that now underpin the Willow project. Details of past sales can be found at this link. 

The lands targeted in this lease sale have long been recognized for their irreplaceable value to clean water, wildlife, and Alaska Native subsistence communities—including areas that past administrations of both parties deemed too sensitive to lease. The sale offers vast acreage within the former Colville River Special Area, further impacting some of the most ecologically important landscapes left in the Arctic. Additionally, tracts surrounding the community of Atqasuk are also being put up for sale, along with a few final parcels near the community of Nuiqsut, where drilling continues to get closer to the community each year. 

Today’s detailed notice of sale was posted the week after an agency error in public notice took place, with the Federal Register failing to publish the lease sale notice last Friday.  The result of this error is the delay of the sale by nine days, with results now due to go public on March 18. 

Additionally, the announcement comes just weeks after Doyon Rig 26 toppled over on the tundra near the Western Arctic, spilling diesel fuel and catching fire after unstable, warming conditions reportedly compromised the ice road beneath it. Cleanup has only just begun. As the Arctic warms three to four times faster than the rest of the planet, thawing permafrost, melting ice roads, and extreme weather are making industrial accidents more frequent and more dangerous, underscoring the growing risks of operating heavy infrastructure in this fragile environment. 

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Photo Credit: Richard Spener 

Alaska Wilderness League opposes the proposed 20-year right-of-way permit for a winter access road across the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, due to impacts to lands and waters along the route.  The right of way would include impacts to denning polar bears and the Porcupine Caribou Herd, harming biodiversity in the region, and impacting the Gwich’in Nation that depends on that herd for traditions and sustenance. 

The Arctic Refuge is one of the last truly intact wild landscapes in America. Even a seasonal road cuts into that integrity, but even greater is our concern is that this route will be the start of much more industrialization. As noted in road proposal, “it is reasonable to assume that this trail may be used as a primary route for oil & gas related overland travel that would allow further access to individual leases. (Draft EA, page 34). Given this — and in line with AWL’s decades of work to keep the Coastal Plain free of industrialization — we view the approval of this road as a step in the wrong direction for the Arctic Refuge coastal plain. 

This proposal would identify nearly 100 miles of routes across sensitive tundra and wildlife habitat, including areas vital to the Porcupine caribou herd, polar bears, and migratory birds. It would allow for heavy equipment to build ice and snow roads annually for twenty years, that could then be relied on to haul freight, fuel, personal vehicles, and industrial equipment that could further oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge.  The short-term direct impacts of the road include habitat degradation, permafrost damage, and wildlife disruptions. Longer term impacts include potential industrialization of lands within the Arctic Refuge, including permanent road construction or oil and gas activities. 

• A high risk of long-lasting damage.  The Arctic Refuge coastal plain gets very little snow, increasing the likelihood of long-term tundra impacts as the heavy machinery constructs and drives across the coastal plain each season. 

• Subsistence and wildlife impacts.  Construction noise and traffic would take place when Polar Bears are in the region and emerging from their dens.  Road traffic could potentially still be taking place when the Porcupine Caribou Herd returns to the area in the spring, as well.   

• Precedent that could impact other areas.  The reliance of the ‘inholding’ provision of ANILCA to drive this right of way process – for a community with a year-round airport and seasonal barges – is not what the law intended.  

• Clears the path for future industrial development.  The project applicant, KIC, has indicated the round would be used to identify sites and gravel for a permanent transportation corridor, including oil and gas industrialization. 

The Refuge was set aside to remain wild and undeveloped for the benefit of wildlife, Indigenous communities, and future generations. Solutions to community access and affordability should not come at the expense of this globally significant ecosystem or the people who depend on keeping these places intact.

History shows that once routes and infrastructure are established, they open the door to expanded industrial use, increased traffic, and permanent development. Our concern is that what starts as a “temporary” today will become the first step toward lasting disturbance.

We recognize and respect the real needs and economic challenges facing the community of Kaktovik. At the same time, we stand in solidarity with the Gwichʼin people, whose culture, food security, and way of life are inseparable from the health of the Porcupine caribou herd and the Refuge’s coastal plain. Any new infrastructure that threatens the caribou threatens the Gwichʼin as well.

The Arctic Refuge is not the place for roads. We urge the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to deny this permit and pursue alternatives that meet community needs without compromising the Refuge’s wild character. 

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Photo courtesy of Florian Schulz / protectthearctic.org

If you need proof that Arctic drilling has become an act of desperation, look no further than what just happened. 

The federal government has opened a 30-day “call for nominations” period—the early step in the leasing process when oil and gas companies are invited to signal interest in bidding on public lands inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 

Normally, this stage happens quietly. Industry lobbyists weigh in behind closed doors, and the public rarely hears about it. But there’s nothing normal about this moment. 

After years of legal fights, public opposition, and repeated market failures, the administration is once again trying to force drilling into one of the most iconic and ecologically important landscapes in America. It’s the same tired playbook we’ve seen before: rush a lease sale, hope companies show up, and pretend there’s an economic case that simply doesn’t exist. 

Past Refuge lease sales have drawn almost no serious interest from industry. Major oil companies have stayed away. Investors have backed off. Bids have been sparse and underwhelming.  

This 30-day window is the only official opportunity for the public to weigh in before the leasing process moves forward. It’s our chance to make it crystal clear that any company reckless enough to bid will face immediate public scrutiny and sustained opposition. 

This is where we build the record and the pressure to stop this scheme before it starts. 

For years, behind-the-times lawmakers have tried to frame the Refuge as the next great energy frontier. But in reality, Arctic oil development is one of the most expensive, complicated, and financially risky bets in the entire industry.

Operating in America’s Arctic means building roads, pipelines, and infrastructure across remote tundra in extreme weather. It means short drilling seasons, high labor and transportation costs, and constant logistical challenges. It means years—sometimes decades—of permitting battles and legal uncertainty. Even under ideal conditions, projects here carry some of the highest production costs in North America (maybe even in the world).

At the same time, the global energy landscape is changing fast. Clean energy is getting cheaper. Investors are scrutinizing high-risk fossil fuel projects more closely. And analysts increasingly warn that long-term, high-cost oil developments—especially in fragile places like the Arctic—risk becoming stranded assets before they ever turn a profit. The math simply doesn’t work out.

Any company that chooses to bid now would be making a deliberate decision to sink money into one of the riskiest oil fields on the planet, gambling shareholder dollars on a project with enormous costs, uncertain returns, and fierce public opposition. 

This call for nominations is designed for oil companies, but nothing says the public can’t speak louder. And when it comes to corporate decision-making, public pressure matters. 

Executives and investors pay attention to risk. They pay attention to reputational damage. And they pay attention when a project becomes synonymous with controversy and opposition. If bidding on the Arctic Refuge means headlines, protests, investor questions, and sustained public backlash from day one, many companies will decide it simply isn’t worth it. 

We have the chance to send a clear, unmistakable message: Drilling the Arctic Refuge is outdated, unnecessary, and a terrible business decision. 

Plus, the Refuge is too special to gamble with. It supports caribou herds, polar bears, migratory birds, and the cultural lifeways of the Gwich’in people who have protected this place for generations. It deserves protection and not another desperate attempt to auction it off to the highest bidder. 

Tell oil companies to stay out. Tell them the risk is too high. Tell them the future isn’t in the Arctic. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: February 2, 2026
Contact: Anja Semanco | 724-967-2777 | anja@alaskawild.org 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Trump administration announced it is opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas nominations, the next step toward another lease sale in one of the most iconic and ecologically important landscapes in the United States. 

Alaska Wilderness League is urging energy companies and their investors to sit this one out. 

“Serious companies don’t gamble their future on the most remote, expensive, and controversial oil on Earth from one of the most unparalleled ecosystems left on this planet,” said Kristen Miller, executive director at Alaska Wilderness League. “If companies are still looking to drill the Arctic Refuge in 2026, it’s a sign that they can’t read the writing on the wall: smart money has already walked away.” 

The Refuge lease program has already proven to be a market failure. Previous Arctic Refuge lease sales attracted virtually no industry interest, generating minimal bids and leaving taxpayers holding the bill. Meanwhile, major oil companies and financial institutions have publicly backed away from Arctic drilling, citing high costs, legal risks, and growing investor concerns about stranded assets. 

A Bad Bet in a Changing Market 

Arctic drilling faces steep financial and logistical hurdles: 

• Some of the highest production costs in North America 
• Extreme weather and infrastructure challenges 
• Ongoing legal and regulatory uncertainty 
• Growing global competition from cheaper renewables 
• Escalating reputational and climate risks from rapid warming for companies and investors 

Energy analysts increasingly warn that long-term, high-cost oil projects like those in the Arctic risk becoming stranded assets as markets shift toward cleaner, cheaper energy sources. 

Wildlife Refuge, Not Oil Field 

The Arctic Refuge is home to the Porcupine caribou herd, polar bears, migratory birds, and the coastal plain that the Gwich’in people call “the sacred place where life begins.” The coastal plain serves as the primary calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd, which sustains Indigenous communities and supports one of the longest land migrations on Earth. It also provides denning habitat for threatened polar bears and nesting and breeding grounds for millions of birds that migrate to every U.S. state and six continents each year. 

For decades, Americans across the political spectrum have supported protecting the Refuge from industrial development, recognizing it as one of the last intact ecosystems of its kind left on the planet.