A Congressional Review Act resolution would open up millions of acres to oil exploration.
Biden-era limits on Alaska drilling up for Senate debate
Garrett Downs, E & E News, October 29, 2025 (subscription required)
The Senate on Wednesday will vote on whether to advance a proposal overturning a Biden administration rule limiting drilling in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) introduced S.J. Res. 80 in September, saying it would roll back “key parts of Biden’s Last Frontier Lock Up” in a social media post.
The resolution would specifically move to overturn a 2022 decision from the Biden administration that protected millions of acres in the NPR-A from oil and gas development.
The Alaska delegation has long complained that the Biden administration was too aggressive with land protections in the state, arguing that extractive industries like oil and gas were essential to the economic well-being of communities and the state.
Permits, planning and preconstruction activities for Ambler Access Project.
Alaska issues permits for road to remote mining district
Alton Wallace, The Center Square, October 27, 2025
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority on Friday reestablished permits that allow planning and preconstruction activities to resume on a road across federally managed lands to the Ambler Mining District, an area with large deposits of strategic metals.
The permits reestablish a 50-year right-of-way granted in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term. It was revoked in 2024 by the Biden administration following challenges by environmental organizations and Indigenous groups in Alaska. The road would provide access to a mining district with untapped deposits of copper, cobalt, zinc, gallium, germanium, gold, and silver and would advance the current Trump administration’s push to develop domestic supplies of critical materials.
Last week, the Department of the Interior announced a package of actions to boost energy development in Alaska that includes reopening the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing and completion of right-of-way permits for the Ambler Road project. On Friday, Alaskan government officials executed the permits with the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service.
Streamlined federal permitting for Donlin Gold approved!
Donlin Gold accepted into FAST-41 program
Shane Lasley, North of 60 Mining News, October 27, 2025
Supplemental permitting for 39-million-oz gold mine is now covered under federal program.
The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) Oct. 27 announced that the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold Mine project in Alaska has been accepted for streamlined federal permitting under the FAST-41 program.
“On behalf of the Permitting Council, I am proud to welcome the Donlin Gold Project to FAST-41 coverage,” said Executive Director Emily Domenech.
Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), the Permitting Council is a federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of permitting critical infrastructure projects – including mines, natural gas pipelines, renewable energy, electricity transmission, telecommunications, and certain emerging technologies.