Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Bureau of Land Management Relating to ``National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to overturn the Biden administration's sweeping restrictions of what we call in Alaska the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska--so to pass the CRA, the S.J. Res. 80, that we are going to vote on here in a couple of minutes.

When I say the Biden administration's restrictions, in this case, that is not strong enough. What the Biden administration did when they came into office is they took the NPRA--that is right there, the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska--and they said we are going to essentially shut this down.

So what is the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska? Well, it started out--in 1923, President Warren Harding said: This is so important, this area of Alaska, we are going to call it the Naval Petroleum Reserve of Alaska for the U.S. Navy for oil.

Then Congress later came and in law said: No, we are going to designate this the ``National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska.'' It is the size of Indiana, and we are going to make sure it is developed for oil.

Development--that is what this body did.

Joe Biden comes in and says: Nope. We are going to take an Executive order, and we are going to shut it down.

And that is what they did.

So the most important element of this is not just Biden flaunting the law, which he did in Alaska many times, as I am going to get to--he canceled the voices of the most important people in Alaska who lived there.

So let me go to the next slide here. A lot of people have seen this. This is what I call the Last Frontier Lock-Up. OK. This is a map of Alaska. Here is NPR-A up here. Again, we are a big State. That is about the size of Indiana.

Biden issued 70 Executive orders and Executive actions singularly focused on my State during his 4 years--7-0. One of them is the lockup of NPR-A, on this huge list.

By the way, I went to the President, President Biden, when this list was at 48, and I handed it to him and said: Mr. President, what are you doing? Do you even know what you are doing?

John Podesta was in there--all the bad, you know, far-left, radical enviros.

You are crushing our State, you are crushing American energy, you are killing workers, and you are not listening to the Native people of my State who don't like this. And by the way, Mr. President, we have the highest standards in the world on resource development in Alaska.

But they didn't listen. So 7-0 Executive orders singularly focused on one State. It was an outrage. But it showed their priorities, which was not to unleash American energy but to listen to the radical far left, who always wants to shut down Alaska. They don't care about the Native people; don't care about jobs; certainly don't care about union jobs.

So the good news is that when President Trump came into office, he said: Enough of that. We are going to unleash Alaska.

So day one--this is a day-one Executive order from the President of the United States. He said: We are going to unleash Alaska's extraordinary resource potential.

That is a day-one Executive order from President Trump, and so that is what we are doing. We are going to do it through the executive branch--what the President is doing--and here in the legislative branch. So, not surprisingly, this morning, there was a Statement of Administration Policy from the Trump administration saying they ``strongly supports passage of S.J. Res. 80`` of my CRA.

29, 2025] Statement of Administration Policy S.J. Res. 80--Joint Resolution Providing for Congressional Disapproval

of the Rule Submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to ``National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision'' (Sen. Sullivan, R-AK, and one cosponsor)

The Administration strongly supports passage of S.J. Res. 80, which would disapprove a rule issued by the Bureau of Land Management during the previous Administration. The 2022 Biden-era National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision closes half of the NPR-A to oil and gas development and imposes additional restrictions on areas where development is allowed.

Recognizing that developing Alaska's largely untapped supply of energy resources will benefit the Nation, President Trump issued Executive Order 14153, ``Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential'' on his first day in office and directed the Secretary of the Interior to review this Biden-era decision. By restricting access to America's abundant resources, this ill-advised decision strays from the statutory direction for development of this important area under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, undermines the President's pro-growth energy agenda, and weakens America's energy security by increasing our reliance on foreign countries and limiting America's preeminence in powering innovation and growth. The decision is also inconsistent with section 50105 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, P.L. 119-21, which directs the Secretary to lease in accordance with the 2020 Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision for the area, which the Biden-era decision amended.

President Trump is committed to unleashing American energy dominance and reversing the failed, America-Last energy policies of the Biden Administration. The Trump Administration will continue its mission to unleash America's affordable and reliable energy, drive down energy costs, and put hardworking Americans first.

For these reasons, if this joint resolution is presented to the President in its current form, his advisors would recommend that he sign it into law.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SULLIVAN. So why would we want to do this? Again, we have the highest environmental standards in the world, but when you unleash Alaska energy, when you unleash Montana energy, when you unleash American energy, it helps with jobs, it helps with our environment because we have the highest standards in the world, and it really helps with national security.

I remember a meeting I was in many years ago with Senator McCain, John McCain, and a very prominent Russian dissident, Vladimir Kara- Murza. Putin has tried to poison and kill this guy twice. He is still alive. He lives in America now. He is a great hero.

At the end of the meeting, I looked at Vladimir Kara-Murza: What more can we do to undermine the Putin regime?

Do you know what he said? He said: Simple, Senator. The No. 1 thing America can do to undermine Vladimir Putin is produce more American energy.

By the way, all of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who love shutting down energy production, you are only helping our adversaries--Venezuela, China, Russia.

So this is about national security and environmental stewardship.

Really important--I want to talk about another group that matters a lot with regard to this CRA, and this is the Native people who live on the North Slope of Alaska.

This is a slide that I put out a lot. This is where we are looking at. This is the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska in my State.

This is what we call our trilateral in Alaska: the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope--that is the Tribe; the North Slope Borough, which is our government entity, which is huge--the North Slope Borough I think is almost the size of Montana; and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, which is our regional Native corporation.

They tried. Eight times they flew to Washington, DC. This is all Native people. They flew to Washington, DC, during the Biden administration. Eight times they flew down here--4,000 miles away from their home--to try to meet with the Secretary of the Interior, Secretary Haaland, and the White House of the Biden administration, saying: Don't do this NPR-A lockup. This is our land. Don't do it.

Do you know what? The Biden administration never even met with them. The Secretary of the Interior never met with them. They flew here eight different times to say: Don't do it. This is every Tribal leader, Native leader, on the North Slope, and their voices were ignored. Think about that. Eight times.

Now, the total insult when Biden finally did this giant regulation locking up the entire National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska--do you know what he did? He and Secretary Haaland put out a statement saying: We did this because the Native people of Alaska wanted it.

I went on national TV. I don't normally throw bombs, but I went on national TV, and I said: That is a bald-faced lie from Joe Biden.

He was canceling Native voices, and then he was using them. He literally said: We did this because the Native people of Alaska wanted it.

Outrageous--actually, one of the most outrageous things I saw the Biden administration do, and they did a heck of a lot of outrageous stuff.

So I want to submit for the Record a letter from ICAS, the North Slope Borough, and ASRC--the trilateral, as we call it--all the Native leadership on the North Slope strongly supporting my CRA.

Res. 80 and H.J. Res. 124--Congressional Review Act Disapproval of the BLM NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan (IAP) Record of Decision (ROD). October 3, 2025. Hon. Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Nicholas Begich, III, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Senators Murkowski, Sullivan, and Representative Begich: On behalf of the North Slope Inupiaq leadership-- including Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC), the North Slope Borough (Borough), and the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (ICAS)--we write in strong support of S.J. Res. 80, introduced by Senators Sullivan and Murkowski, and H.J. Res. 124 in the House, each providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the ruLe submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to the ``National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision.'' Background

The North Slope Inupiat have called the Arctic home for over 10,000 years. We are proud of our self-determination efforts to ensure future generations of Inupiat continue to reside in our communities and have access to essential services. Without a stable economy, our communities will suffer, along with our ability to fully engage in and sustain our Inupiaq cultural traditions, including our vital subsistence way of life.

The North Slope of Alaska spans an area nearly the size of the state of Minnesota and, within that expansive area, there are eight Inupiaq communities--Anaktuvuk Pass, Atqasuk, Kaktovik, Nuiqsut, Point Hope, Point Lay, Utqiagvik, and Wainwright. None of our communities are connected by a permanent road system; all supplies must be flown or barged in, making the cost of living extremely high and economic opportunities generally low.

Over fifty years ago, the Federal Government directed Alaska Native people to organize into a new structure of indigenous representation. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) was a dramatically different and transformative approach by the Federal Government to federal Indian policy. The fact that our ancestral lands were claimed by the Federal Government before our people had a right to settle aboriginal land claims should inform every decision the Federal Government makes in managing those lands.

Unlike the Lower 48 model of indigenous representation where tribal governments typically administer the delivery of services such as healthcare, public safety, education, land management, and economic development, the passage of ANCSA created a shared system of Alaska Native representation and delivery of services. Our region has a multitude of Alaska Native entities that work together to effectively serve, provide for, and enrich the lives of the North Slope Inupiat we represent. Our three regional entities, the ICAS, the Borough, and ASRC are three of those entities. While our roles differ, our constituencies overlap, which is why we work closely together to protect the cultural and economic interests of the North Slope Inupiat.

While our leaders over fifty years ago were initially wary of any development on our lands, our Inupiaq leaders have spent decades prioritizing open communication and transparency in planning with industry. We have exercised true self-determination through a unique framework of Alaska Native governance--a framework that relies on our tribal governments, municipal governments, and Alaska Native corporations established by Congress to serve our indigenous constituents. For millennia, Inupiaq ingenuity has transformed our relationship with industry into a partnership that has both protected our environment and our way of life and has brought significant economic benefits to the region that would have otherwise been absent. Our North Slope residents are keenly aware that advances in our communities--running water, local schools, health care, public safety, electricity, and more--have come because of the coordination and cooperation of Alaska Native leaders and entities across the region. ICAS

Established in 1971, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope is the federally recognized regional tribal government for the North Slope and represents over 14,000 Inupiaq tribal members. The mission of ICAS is to exercise its sovereign rights and powers for the benefit of tribal members, to conserve and retain tribal lands and resources including subsistence for millennia Inupiaq ingenuity has transformed our relationship with industry into a partnership that has both protected our environment and our way of life and has brought significant economic benefits to the region that would have otherwise been absent. Our North Slope residents are keenly aware that advances in our communities--running water, local schools, health care, public safety, electricity, and more--have come because of the coordination and cooperation of Alaska Native leaders and entities across the region. Borough

The Borough is a home rule government located above the Arctic Circle that represents roughly 10,000 residents. The Borough's jurisdiction includes the entire National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) and the eight villages within it. In 1972, the North Slope Inupiat formed the Borough, in part, to ensure our communities would benefit from oil and gas development on their ancestral homelands. It was the first time Alaska Natives took control of their destiny using a regional municipal government. The Borough exercises its powers of taxation, property assessment, education, and planning and zoning services to serve our communities. Taxes levied on oil and gas infrastructure, not development, have enabled the Borough to invest in public infrastructure and utilities, support education, and provide police, fire, emergency, health, and other services. Elsewhere in rural Alaska, these services are typically provided primarily by the State or Federal Government, or both. ASRC

ASRC is a for-profit, land-owning Alaska Native regional corporation formed pursuant to ANCSA. ASRC represents the same region as the Borough and ICAS, and the same eight villages whose residents are predominantly Inupiat, and who comprise many of our over 14,000 Alaska Native shareholders. ASRC holds the title to approximately five million acres of land on the North Slope, including both surface and subsurface lands. These lands--the ancestral lands of the North Slope Inupiat--were conveyed to ASRC by the United States pursuant to ANCSA to provide for the economic and cultural well-being of our Inupiaq shareholders.

ASRC is committed to both providing sound financial returns to our shareholders, through jobs and dividends, and to preserving our Inupiaq way of life, culture, and traditions, including the ability to maintain a subsistence lifestyle that supports our communities. In furtherance of this congressionally mandated mission to provide benefits to our shareholders, ASRC conducts and continues to invest in a variety of activities related to infrastructure and natural resource development and other economic initiatives.

ASRC's perspective is based on the dual realities that our Inupiaq culture and communities depend on a healthy ecosystem and subsistence resources, as well as infrastructure and resource development as the foundation of sustainable North Slope communities. Disapproval of the 2022 NPR-A IAP ROD

The NPR-A lies entirely within the homelands of the North Slope Inupiat. Congress established the NPR-A with a clear purpose: to ensure energy security for the Nation while respecting the needs of Alaska Natives. Instead, the 2022 Record of Decision (ROD) issued by BLM has imposed sweeping restrictions that curtail responsible development, undermine congressional intent, and disregard the well-being of the people who depend on these lands for both subsistence and livelihoods.

The impacts of the 2022 ROD are especially severe for the North Slope. Oil and gas development in the NPR-A funds the Borough's schools, emergency services, and infrastructure. It supports jobs for Inupiaq shareholders and residents. It underwrites the continuation of our communities, even as we maintain our subsistence way of life. By arbitrarily locking away vast portions of the NPR-A, BLM's rule threatens these essential services and imposes disproportionate burdens on our people.

Equally concerning, BLM failed to engage in meaningful government-to-government consultation with ASRC, the Borough, and ICAS. This omission contradicts federal consultation requirements and disregards the voices of the very communities most affected. Our leadership has consistently raised concerns about this process and its outcomes, yet those concerns were ignored.

The 2022 ROD ignores congressional intent under ANCSA, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA), the National Petroleum Reserve Production Act of 1976 (NPRPA), and the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 1980. The 2022 ROD also disregards the economic needs of North Slope communities, and creates unnecessary obstacles to infrastructure, energy, and community health across the North Slope of Alaska. Support for S.J. Res 80 and H.J. Res. 124

For these reasons, our trilateral organizations strongly support passage of S.J. Res. 80 and H.J. Res. 124 to disapprove the 2022 NPR-A IAP ROD. Overturning this rule is necessary to restore balance to federal policy, reaffirm Congress's intent for the NPR-A, and uphold the economic, cultural, and subsistence well-being of the North Slope Inupiat.

Our identity, resilience, and survival are deeply rooted in our traditional lands that the NPRA boundaries encompass. We take great pride in our ongoing efforts toward self- determination, focused on securing a future where future generations of Inupiat can continue to live in our communities with access to the essential services they need to thrive. We thank you for your leadership on this important resolution and look forward to continued collaboration to ensure that federal policies in the NPR-A reflect both national priorities and the needs of the people who call the Arctic home. Sincerely, Nicole Wojciechowski, President, Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope. Josiah Patkotak, Mayor, North Slope Borough. Rex A. Rock Sr., President and CEO, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SULLIVAN. I would also like to submit for the Record a letter from The Alliance, which is all of our companies--not just energy companies but all related companies, the biggest group of businesses, workers in Alaska, who also strongly support my CRA.

Hon. Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Nicholas Begich III, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Senator Murkowski, Senator Sullivan and Congressman Begich: As you know, the Alaska Support Industry Alliance (the Alliance) is a 46-year-old professional trade organization, representing companies who provide support to Alaska's oil, gas, and mining industries.

Our mission statement is ``To lead and advocate for the responsible exploration, development, and production of Alaska's oil, gas, energy, and mineral resources, ensuring durable benefits for all Alaskans and fostering economic growth.''

On behalf of the 547 members of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance and their 35,000 Alaskan employees, I am writing in support of S.J. Res. 80, disapproving BLM's 2022 NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan.

The 2022 NPR-A IAP Record of Decision, which cut open-for- leasing acreage from 18.6 to 11.8 million acres and imposed new constraints on development, caused great concern among our members. Their livelihoods depend on a business climate that continually attracts new exploration and development of Alaska's vast natural resources. Anything that restricts the ability to do so threatens the future of their business.

The opportunity given to Congress, a 60-day window for expedited action, is an opportunity to restore the acreage removed by the previous administration and align with President Trump's EO 114153 ``Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential''. In addition S.J. Res. 80 supports a balanced, development-compatible management framework for the NPRA.

Thank you for your efforts on this resolution and for your consideration of our comments, Respectfully, Rebecca Logan, CEO, The Alliance.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SULLIVAN. Let me just end with this: I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle can vote for this CRA.

I talk about jobs, I talk about national security, and I talk about working families, all of which are very important. At the end of the day, this is so important because this actually, in my State, is a matter of life and death.

What do I mean? Now, I have trotted out this chart a lot. I am going to explain it here. But this is why I get so riled up about these issues and why, when my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and Democratic administrations always come up to Alaska, saying ``Hey, we are just going to shut you down; we are going to crush your jobs,'' why I get so animated about it. It is jobs. It is national security. When you are producing energy from America, from Alaska, you are strengthening the country, strengthening good jobs--good union jobs, by the way--but the other thing you are doing is you are helping people live longer.

What do I mean? I break this chart out a lot because it is really important to me. This is from the American Medical Association from 1980 to 2014 on Americans' life expectancy--who was living longer and who, unfortunately, was living less longer.

If you look here, this is America. The light blue, the darker blue, purple--those are the States that are living the longest. The yellow, orange, and red--that is actually people losing life expectancy. That is not good at all.

The place that had the longest life expectancy increase from 1980 to 2014 was my State. Thirteen years. Look at this. Thirteen years on the North Slope, Northwest Arctic Borough, Aleutian Islands chain. How did that happen? It happened because responsible resource development happened.

The Native people of my State were living 13 years longer--more than any other place in the country. I have asked my colleagues a lot when we debate this: Give me a policy indicator of success more important than the people you are representing living longer. There isn't one. I have never heard of one.

The people I am representing are living longer because we are responsibly developing resources. And they get jobs, they get gymnasiums, they get hospitals, and they get flush toilets and running water, which a lot of the communities in my State, Native communities, don't have.

So this is a matter of life and death, my colleagues, and I do want to really try to encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: Join us. This is the right call. There is a lot of talk about. Hey, we want to help minority communities. We want to help people of color. Here is your chance. You are going to help them live longer.

So I am hoping that every Member of this body can come down and vote for my CRA because it is the right thing to do. It is going to help with jobs, it is going to help with national security, and it is what the Native people in my State who actually live there want.

Again, they came down here eight different times and told President Biden and Secretary Haaland: Don't do this. Don't do this.

Not only did they ignore their voice, they wouldn't even meet with them.

So now we have a chance to right that wrong and pass my CRA. Again, I really hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will do this because it is the right thing to do, and the indigenous people of my State who live here want this because it is going to help them live longer. I don't think there is anything more important than that. Motion to Proceed

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SULLIVAN. 221, S.J. Res. 80.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source