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: A congressional joint resolution would nullify the BLM’s 2022 National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan—which closed roughly 48% of the reserve to oil and gas leasing—and revert management to the 2020 plan.
Abstract
(HJRES124 · 119th Congress) This joint resolution nullifies the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) titled National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision and issued on April 25, 2022. BLM’s plan provides for the management of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, which is an approximately 23-million-acre area on Alaska’s North Slope. 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 (2025-09-18): Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Why this matters
The NPR-A is the largest single block of federal land in the U.S. and one of the country’s most significant onshore oil and gas frontiers; overturning the 2022 IAP would reopen roughly 48% of the reserve — including areas near Teshekpuk Lake and other subsistence and wildlife-sensitive zones — to leasing under the 2020 plan. The reversal illustrates how the Congressional Review Act is being used to swing federal land management between administrations without new statutory text, with direct consequences for lease acreage, permitting timelines, and habitat protections.