Congress moves to block Arctic oil leasing in Alaska's Coastal Plain
S.J.Res. 91 — A joint resolution 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 Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Oct 28, 2025 · Reported out
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This joint resolution uses the Congressional Review Act to disapprove and nullify the Bureau of Land Management's December 2024 decision to proceed with oil and gas leasing in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain. If passed, the rule is voided and cannot be re-issued in substantially the same form without new congressional authorization.
Why we flagged it
This is a straightforward Congressional Review Act disapproval resolution targeting a specific BLM rule. It uses the procedural mechanism Congress created to overturn agency rules, applied here to block Arctic oil and gas leasing authorization.
What the text implies
- If passed, the rule cannot be re-issued in substantially the same form without new congressional action, effectively requiring legislative approval for any future Coastal Plain leasing program.
- The resolution's passage would likely trigger litigation from oil and gas companies challenging the CRA's application to the BLM record of decision, potentially reaching the Supreme Court on the definition of 'rule' under the Administrative Procedure Act.
- Disapproval does not prevent the Biden or future administrations from issuing a different leasing rule with modified terms, though the CRA's 60-legislative-day window and political dynamics make rapid re-issuance unlikely.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Disapproving the leasing rule preserves the Coastal Plain's current environmental and wilderness status, protecting a globally significant Arctic ecosystem from industrial development. Citizens retain access to undeveloped public lands and avoid potential environmental harms from oil extraction in a sensitive region.
Named in the bill
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Congress, Government Accountability Office (GAO), Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) Coastal Plain, Oil and gas industry
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Oct 28, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Oct 28, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources discharged, by petition, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 802(c)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $2,570,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 23 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.
Lisa Murkowski, the sponsor, reported $364,800 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Petroleum Institute — $1,920,000 on 1 filing
- Americans for Prosperity — $390,000 on 1 filing
- Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, Inc. — $260,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,648 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 2026-10-20.
“Congress moves to block Arctic oil leasing in Alaska's Coastal Plain” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/sjres91 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.