Oil drilling rigs and support equipment stand in the tundra on Friday, September 5, 2025, in Deadhorse, Alaska.
Nathaniel Wilder Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Trump administration on Thursday announced plans for a major oil drilling expansion in Alaska, off the coast of California and in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Interior Department has proposed 34 lease sales to drill in these waters by 2031, a significant expansion compared to the Biden administration’s program, which allowed only three lease sales in the Gulf alone.
President Trump’s plan includes lease sales in 21 areas off Alaska, six off the Pacific coast, and seven in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the first time since 1984 that the Interior Department has approved a new land lease in the Pacific Ocean, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Mr. Interior’s proposal is not the final plan. Further consideration is still required.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum accused the Biden administration of putting the brakes on oil and gas leasing, “paralyzing America’s long-term pipeline of offshore production.”
More than 100 Democratic members of Congress expressed opposition to the plan in an Oct. 30 letter to President Donald Trump and Burgum.
“The expansion of oil and gas leases poses risks to the health and livelihoods of our constituents, jeopardizes our tourism, fishing, and recreation economies, and threatens the marine life that inhabits our coastlines,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Natural Resources Defense Council called the Trump plan grossly reckless in a post Thursday.
“This proposal would open untouched waters in Alaska to drilling, attempt to revive California’s offshore oil and gas industry, and provide waters off the coast of Florida that have not been leased in decades, in addition to increasing leasing in the Gulf of Mexico,” NRDC said.
“This plan will harm these places and the people who depend on them for generations,” the environmental group said.
