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.
Sponsor: Nicholas J. Begich III · 0 cosponsors
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
This joint resolution opens public land for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Specifically, the joint resolution nullifies the record of decision (ROD) issued by the Bureau of Land Management on December 9, 2024, for the program that leases, develops, produces, and transports oil and gas in and from the Coastal Plain program area within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The 2024 ROD that is being nullified by this resolution replaced the 2020 ROD that made all of the approximately 1.6 million acres of the program area available for oil and gas leasing. The 2024 ROD made approximately 1.2 million acres unavailable for leasing or exploration in order to protect and conserve resources and certain uses in these areas. However, the 2024 ROD requires the statutory minimum of 400,000 acres to be made available for oil and gas leasing in a specified lease sale, subject to certain stipulations and operating procedures. Under current law, those acres must be located in the areas with the highest potential for the discovery of hydrocarbons.
Text of the bill
That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Record of Decision (issued December 9, 2024, as a record of decision, and a letter of opinion from the Government Accountability Office dated August 25, 2025, printed in the Congressional Record on September 2, 2025, on pages S5557–S5560, concluding that such record of decision is a rule under the Congressional Review Act), and such rule shall have no force or effect.