On his first day back in office, President Trump signed an executive order that aims to undo most of his predecessor’s work on Alaska energy and environmental issues. The order entitled “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential” was among dozens Trump signed.
“So we’re opening up ANWR,” Trump said at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.
The order calls for new leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and much more. It covers nearly every major land-use controversy in Alaska this century.
It says the government will:
- prioritize the development of Alaska’s natural gas “including the permitting of all necessary pipeline and export infrastructure related to the Alaska LNG Project.”
- facilitate development of a road from King Cove to Cold Bay.
- reinstate the Trump administration’s approval of the Ambler Road.
- reinstate his administration’s development plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
It does not mention the proposed Pebble Mine, at least not by name.
Alaska’s all-Republican delegation to Congress praised the natural resources order, but not another order that would restore the name McKinley to the mountain now named Denali.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski publicly objected to the name change.
“Our nation’s tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial,” she wrote in a post on X.
Many of Trump’s actions are certain to be challenged in court on grounds that they defy laws Congress passed.
