This bill became law on 2025-12-05 as Public Law No. 119-47.
The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.
YourVoice.Now Summary
EnvironmentCorporate BenefitsTransparency & AccountabilityMore of Alaska's oil reserve is open to leasing — the 2022 plan that closed it is gone.
Environment
The 2022 plan kept oil and gas companies from leasing about 11 million acres. With it canceled, the older 2020 limits apply, and far less of the reserve stays off-limits.
The 2022 plan banned new pipelines and other structures on about 8.3 million acres. The 2020 plan that now applies bans them on about 4.3 million acres.
The 2022 plan set drilling conditions meant to guard caribou, birds, and the food villages hunt and fish. Those conditions are void, and the 2020 plan's conditions apply instead.
Once Congress cancels a rule this way, the agency cannot bring back one much like it. It would need Congress to pass a new law first.
Corporate Benefits
About 11.8 million acres were open to leasing under the 2022 plan. Under the 2020 rules now in place, about 18.6 million acres are open.
Transparency & Accountability
Congress used a fast-track process built for agency rules. In July 2025, a watchdog office that works for Congress said this land plan counted as a rule Congress could cancel.
More about this bill
Most people see no change in daily life. In December 2025, Congress canceled a 2022 federal plan for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The reserve covers about 23 million acres of public land on the North Slope. That plan had closed about 48 percent of the reserve to oil and gas leasing. The 2020 rules it replaced now govern again. Today about 82 percent of the reserve is open to leasing. Two groups feel it first: nearby Alaska Native villages and oil companies. The 2022 plan added rules to guard caribou, birds, and village hunting and fishing grounds. Those rules no longer apply. It also kept new pipelines and roads off about 8.3 million acres; the 2020 plan keeps them off about 4.3 million. Congress acted under the Congressional Review Act, a law for canceling agency rules. That law bars the agency from issuing a plan much like the 2022 one unless a new law allows it.
Congressional Summary
This joint resolution reopens portions of the National Petroleum Reserve for oil and gas leasing. (The reserve is an approximately 23-million-acre area on Alaska’s North Slope.) Specifically, the joint resolution nullifies a plan submitted by the Bureau of Land Management in a rule titled National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision and issued on April 25, 2022. The 2022 plan replaced the 2020 plan and closed approximately 48% of the reserve to oil and gas leasing in order to protect certain surface resources and uses, such as protecting wildlife and providing subsistence for communities. Thus, the joint resolution removes the protections provided under the 2022 plan and reverts to the 2020 plan.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Public Law
- Action Date
- 2025-12-05
- Date Added
- 2026-06-13
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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