Senate Overturns Biden NPR-A Drilling Rule

The Senate voted 52-45 to overturn a Biden administration decision restricting oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, with Sen. John Fetterman the only Democrat joining Republicans. The joint resolution, S.J. Res. 80, sponsored by Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski and advanced under the Congressional Review Act, would vacate a 2022 Bureau of Land Management record of decision that closed roughly 11 million acres and had codified protections for more than 13 million acres in designated “special areas.” The measure would bar future administrations from issuing substantially similar rules. Supporters say rolling back the restrictions will bring jobs, economic growth and revenue to the North Slope and Alaska Native communities, while the Biden administration said the 2022 decision protected ecologically significant and subsistence areas. If the GOP House takes up the measure it is likely to pass and is expected to have former President Trump’s support; use of the CRA allowed the Senate to undo the rule with a simple majority. Senate debate also featured Republican complaints that Biden-era land protections unfairly targeted Alaska, and a separate GOP resolution to roll back a Fish and Wildlife Service plan for the northern spotted owl failed to gain traction.