Trump officials visit key operations at prolific Alaska oil field amid push to expand drilling
DEADHORSE, Alaska (AP) — Three Trump Cabinet members began a tour at a key point of operations at a prolific oil field near the Arctic Ocean in Alaska on Monday, part of a multiday trip aimed at highlighting President Donald Trump’s push to expand oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state.
The arrival of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin at Deadhorse came hours after Burgum’s agency said it would follow through with plans to repeal Biden-era restrictions known as the 2024 rule, on future leasing and industrial development in portions of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The petroleum reserve is west of Deadhorse, which is located at Prudhoe Bay at the starting point for the nearly 50-year-old, 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
Rescinding the rule would make it easier to develop approximately 13 million acres of the 23 million acre preserve that the Biden Administration deemed sensitive areas. Environmentalists point out there is already oil development in the NPRA, but that sensitive areas need to be protected.
“We are concerned about wildlife, we are concerned about subsistence, and we are concerned about climate change,” said Matt Jackson with the Alaska office for The Wilderness Society. “Those are our biggest concerns.
“We think those deserve consideration and protection.”
U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, speaking at a roundtable event in Anchorage Sunday, said the Biden administration exceeded its authority when it put the protections in place, adding the preserve was set aside to promote responsible energy production. Burgum had harsh words for those who disagree.
“Somehow along the way we’ve got unnamed funders of NGOs who want to treat Alaska like a snowglobe,” Burgum said. “And you can say, ‘Oh they want to save the environment.’ Do they want to save the environment? Or are some of those people just trying to restrict our ability to be competitive?”'
In a press release Monday, Alaska’s Congressional Delegation, including Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich, said they supported the Department of the Interior’s move to rescind the 2024 rule, which — once printed in the Federal Register — will be open to a 60-day public comment period.
Government and industry representatives from several Asian countries also were expected to participate in a portion of the U.S. officials’ trip, as Trump has focused renewed attention on a massive, proposed natural gas pipeline project that Alaska officials have sought for decades as a way to provide gas to residents and overseas markets. The project has struggled to gain traction amid cost and other concerns, and even some state lawmakers remain skeptical it will come to fruition.
Wright on Monday said the gas line could become the “big, beautiful twin” to the oil pipeline. This followed comments by Burgum a day earlier that the gas project carries potential national security benefits if the U.S. can sell liquefied natural gas to allies in Asia.
The Trump officials were joined Monday by a group that included Sullivan and Gov. Mike Dunleavy, both Republicans, who also took part in meetings Sunday in Anchorage and Utqiagvik. In that Arctic community, which this time of year experiences 24 hours of daylight, many Alaska Native leaders support Trump’s push for more drilling in the petroleum reserve and to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development.
They lauded the visit after lamenting that they felt ignored by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Murkowski, an at-times vocal critic of Trump, joined for the Sunday meeting in Anchorage, where she said Alaska leaders “want to partner with you. We want to be that equal at the table instead of an afterthought.”
Alaska political leaders have long complained about perceived federal overreach by the U.S. government, which oversees about 60% of lands in Alaska. Sullivan, Murkowski and Dunleavy have complained that Biden’s team was too heavy-handed and restrictive in its approach to many resource development issues.
Environmentalists criticized Interior’s planned rollback of restrictions in portions of the petroleum reserve designated as special for their wildlife, subsistence or other values. While Sullivan called the repeal a top priority, saying Congress intended to have development in the petroleum reserve, environmentalists maintain that the law balances allowances for oil drilling with a need to provide protections for sensitive areas.
The Interior Department said it will accept public comment on the planned repeal.
The visit by Trump officials also is slated to include addressing Dunleavy’s annual energy conference Tuesday in Anchorage.
Alaska’s News Source contributed to this reporting.
Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
