ON JANUARY 8, 2025, the second of two lease sales for oil and gas development inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, mandated as part of the 2017 Tax Act by President Trump and Congress, concluded with zero bids received. This is an important marker in our ongoing efforts to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and is a win for the Gwich’in Peoples who consider the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge - the birthing grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd - to be sacred.
The failed lease shines a spotlight on the billion-dollar discrepancy between politicians in Washington, DC, the executives sitting around the boardroom tables of energy companies, and public sentiment. In 2017, Congress mandated the Arctic Refuge lease sales, promising taxpayers $1.8 billion in revenues. The first lease sale - held in Jan 2021 - had interest from only three bidders, two of which backed out within months. The second lease sale received no bids at all, underscoring that, despite promises from Congress and even in-coming President Trump, energy companies have no appetite for drilling inside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In the end, the auction for Arctic Refuge leases raised 0% of the promised revenues. Ultimately, taxpayers spent millions of dollars conducting the mandatory environmental reviews and prepping for the lease sales that generated zero dollars, leaving taxpayers in the red on an energy development plan no one - not even oil companies - wanted.
What happens in America’s Arctic isn’t just an American issue. It impacts everyone on Earth. To learn more about how the American Arctic is linked to every person and country on the planet, watch our 5-part Protect Our Future series of micro-shorts.
