Natural Resources Law

The Biden administration designated and expanded national monuments. The Trump DOI has slated these for rollback.

In October 2025, BLM reinstituted a Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program which opened the 1.56 million acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas leasing.

The Dept. of Interior and King Cove Corp. (KCC) signed a land swap agreement. The contract conveyed KCC 490 acres within the refuge in exchange for 1,739 acres of KCC-owned lands that would be added to the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Native Villages and environmental advocacy groups filed three lawsuits to dispute the legality of the exchange.