Interior Moves to Undo Alaska Petroleum Reserve Rules Made Last Year
Published Date: 6/3/2025
Proposed Rule
Summary
The Bureau of Land Management wants to cancel the rules made last year about managing the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. This change affects companies and communities involved with the reserve, and the public can share their thoughts until August 4, 2025. No immediate money changes are expected, but the government is reviewing paperwork rules too, with a July 3 deadline for those comments.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Repeal Restores Pre-2024 Rules
If you are a company or community that works in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to fully rescind the May 7, 2024 Rule (effective June 6, 2024) and revert to the prior 1977 regulations (published June 3, 1977). The BLM says this repeal is intended to allow maximum possible extraction of oil and gas, could create regulatory cost savings and additional economic opportunities for energy development, and may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Paperwork Burden Reduced for SA Submissions
If you participate in oil and gas exploration and might recommend lands as Special Areas (SAs) in the NPR-A, the proposed rescission revises the information-collection requirements. BLM plans to reduce the estimated annual number of SA recommendation responses from 100 to 10, lowering annual burden hours for that collection from 1,500 hours to 150 hours; each response is estimated to take about 15 hours. The related OMB Control Number is 1004-0221 (current expiration October 31, 2027), and OMB requests comments on these information-collection changes by July 3, 2025.
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
Related Federal Register Documents
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