Alaska’s delegation capped a historic year on Thursday as President Donald Trump signed two major Congressional Review Act resolutions, these ones authored by Congressman Nick Begich, reversing Biden-era land restrictions that had sidelined oil, gas, and mineral development across vast swaths of the state.
With the signing of H.J. Res. 131 and H.J. Res. 106 in the Oval Office, Begich now has four bills signed into law in his first year, an extraordinary pace for a freshman member of Congress, and one that again demonstrates how central Alaska’s resource portfolio has become in the new administration.
Sen. Dan Sullivan applauded the effort and had worked for parallel legislation to pass in the Senate.
A great day for Alaska at the White House as President Trump signs our legislation to repeal the Biden lock-up of ANWR and the Central Yukon. pic.twitter.com/MZMRMYMRnJ
— Sen. Dan Sullivan (@SenDanSullivan) December 11, 2025
The measures unwind two high-impact decisions from the Biden years that effectively shut down development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s 1002 Area and across more than 13 million acres in the Central Yukon region.
H.J. Res. 131 overturns the Biden Interior Department’s 2024 Record of Decision freezing development on the 1002 Area. The resolution restores the 2020 framework Congress designed specifically to allow responsible oil and gas exploration on 1.16 million acres of the Coastal Plain.
By reviving the earlier plan, the law reopens access to an estimated 7.7 billion barrels of oil, a volume long viewed as essential to stabilizing throughput in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and maintaining the nation’s long-term energy security. It also aligns with President Trump’s Executive Order 14154, which directs agencies to unlock Alaska’s strategically important resources.
H.J. Res. 106 repeals the Biden administration’s sweeping Central Yukon Resource Management Plan, which had imposed broad limitations across 13 million acres of Interior Alaska — including some of the state’s poorest communities.
By removing expansive “areas of critical environmental concern” and other restrictive designations, the law restores multiple-use access to:
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1.86 million acres previously closed off
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330,000 acres tied to transportation and utility corridors
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Additional lands suitable for oil, gas, and critical mineral development
The resolution reopens territory crucial for future infrastructure, energy security, and state revenue — and instantly became one of the fastest-moving pieces of legislation advanced by a freshman Alaska lawmaker in modern memory.
The dual signings represent more than a policy reversal; they mark the continuation of a strategic realignment the Trump administration has pursued since returning to office, one that places Alaska at the center of America’s energy and mineral security.
Earlier this week, the president signed another of Begich’s bills, this one to ensure national security in the Arctic.
House passes Begich bill strengthening national defense and securing Alaska’s strategic role
For Begich, the moment underscores a broader mission of reasserting Alaska’s role in national resilience and restoring long-standing commitments Congress made when it established resource-development frameworks in the Arctic and Interior decades ago.
As the year closes, Alaska enters 2026 with new access to lands long gridlocked by federal action.
6 thoughts on “Milestone year as Trump signs two Alaska-focused CRA resolutions into law”
Governor Dunleavy is really messing with me. A proposed full statutory PFD in today’s economy is going to sink the Democrats just like it did in 2022 and 2024. We are a stingy bunch of hipocrites, for sure. Unless you have a state or local government paycheck, times can be tough right now, and the PFD is great for hard working Alaskans who work in the private sector, or live in the Bush.
Looks like our next governor will again be a Republican. Thanks loads, Dunleavy.
Uncle Tom.
Democrat
Candidate For Governor
Unlocking Alaska’s oil and gas resources would flood the global market and stabilize the United States’ energy independence. In the basic economic law of supply and demand is counterintuitive to the State of Alaska’s legislative leadership capacity.
I personally am sick of the last 50-100 years of recycling new versions of the same poster-child mouthpieces as our “leaders”. You want to know another description of a mouthpiece? A puppet.
BUT this is the thing that keeps me up at night. The people behind the mouthpieces; “best of the best” puppeteers, the “behind the scenes financiers”, the ones pulling the power base strings…This is the best they collectively came up with.
This is a time when being in the peanut gallery will not suffice.
I don’t get why Trump allowed Sleaze-A to display her nasty mug at that signing ceremony its never going to alleviate her TDS. She has a personal vendetta against him for something. Why give her free attention Whch she craves so badly??
Note that none of the people in that picture are geologists or petroleum engineers or have worked in the Alaska O&G industry. Both bills are irrelevant to getting more oil down TAPS to market or more gas to gas-starved Southcentral (the REAL imminent crisis). There is no economic oil in either location, particularly not at current sub-$60/bbl prices. BP had the ANWR geologic data for many years (now Hilcorp has it) and did absolutely nothing with it, even during times of high prices…because nothing commercial is there. Alaskans have this odd and completely incorrect belief that every single parcel of land necessarily contains oil/gas (and that it’s “our” oil/gas). Not only does very little Alaska land/water contain commercial amounts of oil/gas, but the areas left that do are cost prohibitive to develop, IF you can get the greenie obstructionists out of the way to even try. These resolutions, bill signings, etc. about opening up “closed” acreage to industry are photo ops, pure and simple. They change nothing about the energy landscape in this state.
This is agrandized, political fluff. Global economics determines if Alaska’s resources are developed. Not politicians. Alaska needs to figure out how to be competitive in the world oil and lng markets. Photo ops with Trump doesn’t do that.
I would say that Lisa’s expression should work against her. For some reason she appears as though creating jobs is a bad thing. Oh that’s right, if people are employed they are harder to control.