Shannon Silverthorne, ELR Staffer, FLS Class of 2027

On October 30, 2025, the U.S. Senate voted 52-45 to pass S.J. Res. 80, a joint resolution overturning a Biden-era policy that restricted the amount of land available for oil and gas drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) to 52%. Notably, the vote was split along party lines—the only Democrat to vote in favor of the overturn was Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. The Senate’s authority to overturn the protective policy stems from the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a tool which can be used to overturn certain federal agency actions. 

The NPR-A, formerly known as Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4, was established by President Harding in 1923. It spans across an approximately 23 million acre area on Alaska’s North Slope and was originally set aside as an emergency oil supply for the U.S. Navy. In 1976, the Bureau of Land Management took over administration of the reserve.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management issued the Biden-era policy called into question on April 25, 2022. The new environmental protections contained within the Bureau of Land Management’s Record of Decision protected approximately 11 million acres of land in the NPR-A, including much of its coastal region along the Beaufort Sea. However, the decision in its entirety was never formally submitted to the House and Senate as required by the Congressional Review Act. 

Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) sponsored the Senate resolution. He shared in a post on the social media platform X that their goal in overturning the 2022 NPR-A protections was to “benefit North Slope communities with jobs & economic growth, and support their tax base to improve access to essential services.” 

Although Senator Sullivan believes that rolling back the environmental protections in the region will benefit local North Slope communities, prominent environmental conservation groups have raised concerns. Jocelyn Torres, Chief Conservation Officer for the Conservations Lands Foundation, shared concerns that the overturn would “further expose the region’s wildlife and people to devastating and irrevocable industrial impacts” and called it a “deliberate attack on the Alaska Native communities.” Similarly, America Fitzpatrick, Program Director of the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), highlighted the immense risk posed by pollution that extensive oil and gas drilling would bring and questioned the government’s motives in selling the land off.  

Representative Nick Begich (R-AK) put forward the House Companion to S.J. Res. 80, although its passage was briefly stalled by the government shutdown at the end of last year. On December 11, 2025, however, H.J. Res. 131 joined S.J. Res. 80 and became law.

Some environmental groups are already calling attention to what they believe is an improper use of the CRA, and it is likely that S.J. Res. 80 and H.J. Res. 131 will not go unchallenged.