Oil companies including ConocoPhillips, Shell and Exxon Mobil spent more than $164 million on leases covering 1.3 million acres in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve near Nuiqsut, despite a court injunction aimed at protecting Teshekpuk Lake. The Trump administration voided a prior agreement safeguarding the area for wildlife and Iñupiat communities. Local leaders expressed concerns over health, culture and subsistence impacts.
Last week, the Bureau of Land Management held an auction in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), selling leases for 1.3 million acres near the village of Nuiqsut to major oil firms. ConocoPhillips, Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp. were among the buyers, paying over $164 million. This sale is part of the Trump administration's energy plan under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which mandates additional auctions through 2035 after voiding a 2024 right-of-way agreement around Teshekpuk Lake, Alaska's largest Arctic lake. That agreement, reached under the Biden administration, aimed to protect caribou migration and Iñupiat subsistence rights just 4 miles from Nuiqsut, a village of about 500 Iñupiaq residents. Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, former mayor of Nuiqsut and leader of Grandmothers Growing Goodness, criticized the move. “Generations of leadership have talked about the importance of [Teshekpuk] Lake... And then this administration put profitability over everything else,” she said. Two days before the auction, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit by Nuiqsut Trilateral Inc., a nonprofit formed by local governments and the Kuukpik Corporation. The judge prioritized property rights claims over environmental ones to reinstate the agreement pending the case. Despite this, companies bought nearly a quarter million acres near the lake. Andy Moderow of the Alaska Wilderness League questioned the leases' future, saying industries prioritize profits over community input. Local advocates like Nauri Simmonds of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic highlighted unstudied health effects from emissions, citing a 2017 ConocoPhillips report on 1.7 million pounds of annual nitrous oxide releases linked to respiratory issues. The Department of Energy stated that perspectives of Alaska Native Tribes and Corporations have guided NPR-A development. Oil employs 46% of North Slope workers, supporting dividends amid poverty, though some residents now link it to health declines.