Congress blocks Arctic oil and gas leasing in Alaska's Coastal Plain.
H.J.Res. 131 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to "Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Record of Decision". · Filed by Nicholas Begich (R-AK) · Introduced Oct 10, 2025 · Signed
Your members of Congress
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What it does
Congress rejected a rule from the Bureau of Land Management. The rule would have let companies drill for oil and gas. The rule is now void and cannot be used.
Who it affects
People who live in Alaska's Coastal Plain are affected. Indigenous communities in the region are affected. Oil and gas companies that wanted to drill are affected.
One thing to notice
Congress stopped this rule, but the agency could write a new rule later. The law only blocks rules that are substantially the same for 60 legislative days.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Oct 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Nov 18, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 217 - 209 (Roll no. 295). (text: CR H4750)”
- Dec 4, 2025 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 49 - 45. Record Vote Number: 632”
- Dec 10, 2025 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Became Public Law No: 119-52”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 2 reports from Dec 2025 to Dec 2025.
Those reports show $2,180,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 20 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 41% of bills with any report.
Nicholas Begich, who sponsored the bill, received $1,039,127 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- American Petroleum Institute — $1,920,000 in 1 report
- Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, Inc. — $260,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- Bureau of Land Management — A government agency that manages public lands and decides who can use them.
- Coastal Plain — A flat area of land near the coast in Alaska where oil and gas could be drilled.
- rule — An official decision by a government agency about how something will work.
- void — No longer legal or in effect.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,309 characters) on May 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,342 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-09-18.
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