Trump’s administration plans for Arctic drilling expansion in a 23 million-acre Arctic Ocean reserve have ignited intense public opposition and concern. On June 2, the Bureau of Land Management proposed rolling back protections for the National Petroleum Reserve, America’s largest public land tract.
Over 250.000 people submitted comments during the two-month review period, expressing fears about threats to wildlife, indigenous rights and fragile Arctic ecosystems. One Georgia worker overheard an oil worker shooting another polar bear that was encountered with her two cubs in northern Alaska.
An 18-year-old from Denmark pleaded for reconsideration, warning that industrial expansion could destroy the planet’s last icy regions before his generation experiences them. The rollback comes alongside Interior Department plans to open 82% of the reserve for drilling, reversing Biden-era protections even before comments closed.
Two weeks before the public review ended, the BLM also rescinded three conservation documents safeguarding the NPR-A from industrial development. The Alaska Wilderness League condemned dismantling protections before reviewing feedback, dismissing legitimate public and scientific concerns about environmental impacts.
Alaska Native people, long involved in securing reserve protections, voiced frustration at seeing decades of advocacy erased to allow full-scale industrialization. BLM officials stated they were reviewing all public comments and rollbacks and promised responses to substantive concerns in the final rule.
