A joint resolution 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 “National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision”.
Key claim: Congress nullified the BLM’s 2022 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision, removing closures that had barred oil and gas leasing on about 48% of the reserve and reverting to the more open 2020 plan.
Abstract
(SJRES80 · 119th Congress) 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. Latest action (2025-12-05): Became Public Law No: 119-47.
Why this matters
Enacted CRA disapprovals of major public-lands land-use decisions are rare and durable — the resolution not only vacates the 2022 NPR-A plan but also bars BLM from issuing a substantially similar rule without new legislation, effectively locking in the 2020 leasing footprint. For MPN’s Energy & Environment tracking, this is a concrete precedent for using the CRA against Interior Department land-use plans and materially expands the federal acreage available for North Slope oil and gas leasing, with corresponding trade-offs for Special Area wildlife, subsistence, and climate concerns.