Protect the Arctic Refuge

Turns out, not even the fossil fuel industry wants to drill the Arctic Refuge.

The fight to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been long, and your voice has been essential at every turn.

When Secretary Burgum announced plans in October 2025 to auction off 1.56 million acres of the Arctic Refuge for oil and gas drilling, more than 6,000 of you took action. Together, we hand-delivered a 74-page petition to lawmakers in D.C., calling for permanent protections. Lease sale nominations opened, the deadline passed, and then the industry spoke.

For the third time, a lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge failed to attract meaningful industry interest. The Bureau of Land Management held the oil and gas lease sale on June 5, 2026, resulting in five leases and $3.7 million in total receipts. Only two entities bid on five of the 58 tracts available. That’s under 0.4% of the nearly $1 billion promised in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act when Congress first opened the Arctic Refuge.

All major oil companies declined to participate, confirming that developing this remote, iconic landscape is widely recognized as an impractical response to current energy challenges.

Three failed lease sales prove that drilling in the Arctic Refuge is a reckless political project, not an economic one.

The coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge is one of the most ecologically important landscapes left in North America. It is the calving ground of the Porcupine Caribou Herd and home to polar bears, musk oxen, migratory birds, wolves, and countless species that depend on an intact Arctic ecosystem.

At POW, we’ve always known that this land is too important to industrialize. Now, even the market has spoken.

Three failed lease sales are enough, but this fight is not over. As the administration pushes forward, POW and our partners will closely monitor what comes next, including:

Continuing to push Congress to permanently protect the Arctic Refuge and repeal the mandate requiring future lease sales.
Monitoring seismic testing and early industrial plans in the Arctic Refuge and NPR‑A. This is often the first action that opens the way for heavy machinery and devastating damage to the fragile Arctic ecosystems.
Holding corporations and financial institutions accountable for Arctic extraction schemes threatening public lands, wildlife, and Indigenous communities.
Mobilizing the Outdoor State to demand clean air, clean water, and protected public lands.

Stay tuned for upcoming opportunities to take action and help defend the Arctic from the next wave of industrial threats.

The Arctic is not a sacrifice zone.

Thank you for continuing to stand with us in this fight.

Protect the Arctic Refuge