The Interior Department is eliminating routine, project-by-project environmental assessments for certain winter oil and natural gas exploration activities in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, a roughly 23-million-acre region on the state’s North Slope. The policy, detailed in a notice scheduled for publication Friday in the Federal Register, allows the Bureau of Land Management to approve qualifying projects under a categorical exclusion from the National Environmental Policy Act.

The change is intended to streamline federal permitting for energy development in a region where severe weather and seasonal conditions limit the time available for drilling and related work. Under the new policy, the bureau can approve certain seismic surveys, drilling permits, and rights-of-way without preparing a separate environmental assessment for every project.

The exclusion covers a range of winter exploration activities, including seismic surveys using vibration-based equipment, temporary ice roads, snow routes, ice pads, worker camps and support equipment. It also applies to water withdrawals, drilling and testing appraisal wells, suspending or abandoning wells, and helicopter-assisted cleanup operations conducted the following summer.

Interior officials said the decision was based on the federal government's experience with winter exploration in the reserve. The Bureau of Land Management reviewed 47 environmental assessments for winter exploration projects approved over the past 28 years and found that every assessment resulted in a determination that the project would have no significant environmental impact.

The department argued that requiring a separate assessment for each qualifying project creates unnecessary administrative burdens, particularly given the narrow seasonal window for conducting operations in Alaska. The categorical exclusion is designed to reduce repetitive reviews while allowing the agency to continue evaluating projects that present unusual environmental risks.

The policy does not give energy companies automatic approval to proceed with drilling. The Bureau of Land Management must still determine whether each proposed project qualifies for the exclusion and screen it for what federal regulations call “extraordinary circumstances” that could lead to significant environmental effects. Projects presenting those circumstances would require a more detailed environmental assessment or environmental impact statement.

The Interior Department also consulted with the White House Council on Environmental Quality while developing the policy.

The move aligns with President Donald Trump’s broader push to accelerate domestic energy production and reduce permitting obstacles. The notice cites two executive orders Trump signed on his first day back in office in January 2025. One directed federal agencies to eliminate permitting delays affecting energy projects, while the other called for maximizing the development of Alaska’s natural resources.

The National Petroleum Reserve has been under Interior Department control since Congress established that arrangement in 1976. Subsequent legislation directed the department to pursue competitive oil and gas leasing in the region.

Federal law requires the Bureau of Land Management to manage the reserve primarily for oil and gas development while protecting environmental resources, wildlife, and other values to the extent consistent with that purpose. The new exclusion changes how certain winter exploration proposals are reviewed, but it does not eliminate the agency’s obligation to consider exceptional environmental concerns.

The policy represents another step in the administration’s effort to expand access to domestic energy resources while shortening the federal approval process for qualifying projects in Alaska.