Public Record Service

Energy and permitting policy, read from the public record.

Register entry No. 0022ReportSeven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, 605 U.S. 168

BLM proposes 60-day permitting track for NPR-A oil production sites, RIN 1004-AF57, 91 FR 57091

A proposed subpart 3139 would let leaseholders win approval for pads, roads and pipelines within 25 miles of existing infrastructure without project-level NEPA review. Comments are due November 9, 2026, while most of the supporting EIS is still unwritten.

Entered by
Public Record Service
Date
Sources
5 cited

Summary

Sixty days. That is the deadline the Bureau of Land Management proposes to give itself to approve an oil and gas production site in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska once a complete application is in hand [1]. The proposed rule, published September 8, 2026, at 91 FR 57091 under RIN 1004-AF57 and Docket No. BLM-2026-0133, would add a new subpart 3139 to 43 CFR part 3130 under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 [1]. Lanny E. Erdos, director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, signed it while exercising the authority of the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management [1].

What the record shows

The new subpart is titled “Streamlined Permitting Procedures for Production Sites in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska” and has 14 sections, 3139.1 through 3139.14 [1]. Its stated objective is “to promote orderly and efficient energy production from Federal lands in the NPR-A, subject to conditions and restrictions intended to mitigate adverse effects on surface resources and subsistence activities” [1].

Which projects qualify

Proposed section 3139.4 sets four tests [1]:

Test Proposed requirement
Type Infrastructure must meet the definition of a “production site”: gravel pads and roads, wells (producers, injectors and disposal wells), pipelines and other infrastructure needed to produce or move Federal oil and gas to market [1]
Distance The entire site must lie within 25 miles of existing permanent oil and gas infrastructure [1]
Production tie The site must include wells, or infrastructure to transport production from existing or proposed wells [1]
Land allocation The site must be entirely outside no-surface-occupancy lands in the Integrated Activity Plan, unless the plan allows essential road or pipeline crossings there [1]

“Permanent oil and gas infrastructure” means facilities that stay in place for more than one winter season and are integral to ongoing production: production pads, facilities directly supporting production, pipelines, and all-season gravel roads supporting production [1]. The preamble excludes legacy well locations, gravel mines, exploration wellheads, seawater treatment plants and ice roads and pads [1]. The 25 miles would be measured from the outer edge of a qualifying pad or road, and infrastructure built after the rule is final, including sites approved under it, would count as a new anchor [1]. BLM says this allows “a gradual westward progression of development from existing NPR-A facilities” [1].

BLM explains the distance in terms of who could use the rule. Looking at current lease holdings, it found that a 25-mile limit would let five lessees qualify, against three at 15 miles [1]. Only an NPR-A leaseholder or designated operator may apply [1].

The review clock

Under proposed section 3139.5, an applicant files an application for permit to drill or a right-of-way application with the BLM Alaska State Office and states that it seeks approval under subpart 3139 [1]. BLM then has 21 days to notify the applicant in writing of any ground for disqualification and each missing item [1]. The applicant has 30 days to supply it or ask for an extension, or the application is returned unapproved [1]. For a qualifying, complete application, the text says BLM “must issue an approval or an approval with conditions within 60 days of the date of receipt of a complete application” [1].

The application must arrive with consultation work already done. Proposed section 3139.6 requires data sufficient for BLM to complete National Historic Preservation Act section 106 review, a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act plan of action where remains or cultural items are likely to be found, and Endangered Species Act section 7 consultation [1]. It also states that BLM “will not require applicants to submit additional information beyond the requirements of this section” [1].

Effect of an approval

Proposed section 3139.7 treats an approval as the approval of a production site under the NPRPA, with no further review under parts 2800, 2880 or 3160 or subpart 3171 [1]. Paragraph (c) ties the approval to the rulemaking’s own environmental review: “No additional project-level NEPA analysis or documentation is required for the BLM to issue its approval under this section” [1]. Construction must start within four years of approval, matching the standard term of an approved drilling permit at 43 CFR 3171.14(a) [1].

Sections 3139.10 through 3139.14 list mitigation conditions, many carried over from design features in the 2023 Willow Master Development Plan record of decision [1]. They include a 500-foot buffer around cultural sites, pre-application outreach to North Slope communities, Tribes and Alaska Native corporations, road access for local residents going to subsistence areas, and shared use of roads and pipelines among lessees [1]. Applicants could ask for an exemption or deviation, which BLM would decide within 30 days [1].

Where it sits in the process

Why is BLM changing NPR-A permitting now?

The reserve covers about 23 million acres on the North Slope [1, 2]. The rule’s preamble describes how development there has been approved: a separate EIS for each development plan, with full-field approvals taking about three to five years [1]. It points to Willow, where review ran “over an almost 5-year period” from ConocoPhillips’ 2018 request to the March 2023 record of decision, including a vacated 2020 decision and a supplemental EIS [1]. By BLM’s count, the 72 drilling permits it issued in the reserve over the past 10 years took an average of 32 days from a complete application [1].

Two earlier actions set the frame. Section 50105 of Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025, directs Interior to “expeditiously restore and resume” NPR-A lease sales and to hold at least five within 10 years, each offering at least 4 million acres [4]. On December 22, 2025, the Secretary signed a record of decision adopting Alternative E of the 2020 Integrated Activity Plan EIS as the operative plan, noticed at 91 FR 9296 [3]. The proposed rule builds on that 2025 plan and its required operating procedures [1].

The rulemaking itself began with a petition. The Alaska Oil and Gas Association filed a “Petition for Rulemaking to Create a Development Permit Program in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska” on May 12, 2026 [1, 2]. A week later, on May 19, BLM published a notice of intent to prepare an EIS for the rule and opened scoping through July 6 [2].

What happens next?

Comments on the proposed rule are due November 9, 2026 [1]. BLM says information-collection comments are best sent to OMB by October 8 [1]. Comments on the draft EIS chapters go separately, through BLM’s ePlanning site under NEPA number DOI-BLM-AK-0000-2026-0012-EIS [1]. BLM says it will complete the EIS before publishing a final rule [1]. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has found the rule significant under section 3(f)(1) of E.O. 12866, with an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more [1].

What the record does not show

  • Most of the EIS. Only draft Chapters 1 and 2, covering purpose and need and alternatives, are out for comment [1]. Chapters 3 and 4, on affected environment, environmental consequences and cumulative effects, “will not be available during the NPRM comment period,” BLM says [1]. That is more than Interior released for the Navajo Mine No Name coal permit approved last week, which had no public draft, but the analysis of effects will first appear in the final EIS.
  • The final eligibility criteria. BLM says the section 3139.4 tests “will be refined” in response to the EIS, and that it is considering a cap on the number of approvals or excluding Special Areas [1]. One EIS alternative would apply the process only to satellite pads with “a hard cap of 14 production pads”; another would widen eligibility to more facility types and a larger area [1]. The proposal does not say which way BLM leans.
  • Which lessees. The preamble counts five qualifying lessees at 25 miles but does not name them [1]. It estimates that six of the ten businesses holding NPR-A leases may be small entities, and calls that identification uncertain [1].
  • Downstream effects. Citing Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, BLM says the EIS will not analyze downstream effects that are separate in time and place from the production sites [1]. The Supreme Court held in May 2025 that NEPA did not require the Surface Transportation Board to analyze effects of upstream and downstream projects “separate in time or place” from the Uinta Basin Railway [5]. How that line will be drawn for North Slope oil is not set out beyond the citation.
  • A stray cross-reference. The NEPA discussion refers to “the Approval process established in Sec. 3166.5” [1]. The proposed text has no section 3166.5; the petition had asked for a new subpart 3166 in part 3160, which BLM declined [1].
  • A sunset. BLM asks whether subpart 3139 should expire when the 2025 plan is replaced, and does not propose an answer [1].

Positions on the record

The petitioner. AOGA’s requested rule, as quoted in the notice of intent, sought “a uniform and efficient permit approval process that sets and maintains appropriate environmental protections and mitigation measures for production sites” [2]. BLM says its version keeps that concept but adds “stronger environmental and subsistence protections,” clarifies federal discretion and adds compliance requirements [1].

BLM. The notice of intent described the past approach in direct terms: “This piecemeal approach to permitting is not just inefficient, it fails to provide private industry with a stable and predictable regulatory framework” [2]. The proposed rule calls the NPRPA a dominant-use statute and argues that, under Loper Bright, the delegations in 42 U.S.C. 6503(b) and 6506a support the rule [1]. It finds the rule is not a “significant energy action” under E.O. 13211 [1].

North Slope communities. BLM names Nuiqsut as the community closest to current development, along with Atqasuk, Wainwright and Utqiagvik [1]. It says Tribes and ANCSA corporations were offered consultation during scoping and may request individual consultation through the rulemaking [1]. No filed comments from them are summarized in the proposal. BLM asks for comment on how applicants should engage affected communities, Tribes and Alaska Native corporations before filing [1].

Reading-room questions

Questions readers bring to this record, answered from the documents cited below.

When are comments due on BLM's NPR-A production site rule?
Comments on the proposed rule are due November 9, 2026, through Regulations.gov under Docket BLM-2026-0133 [1]. Comments on the information-collection burden go to OMB, which BLM says is best done by October 8, 2026 [1].
How fast would BLM have to approve an NPR-A production site under the proposal?
Within 60 days of receiving a complete application, BLM must issue an approval or an approval with conditions [1]. Before that, BLM has 21 days to flag a disqualified or incomplete application, and the applicant has 30 days to fix it [1].
Which NPR-A projects would qualify for streamlined permitting?
A production site with wells, or with infrastructure to move production from wells, located entirely within 25 miles of existing permanent oil and gas infrastructure and outside no-surface-occupancy lands except for allowed road and pipeline crossings [1]. Only a leaseholder or designated operator can apply [1].
Would NPR-A projects still get a NEPA review?
Not project by project. The proposed text says a qualifying approval needs no additional project-level NEPA analysis because the rulemaking EIS would cover it [1]. That EIS is still being written; only draft Chapters 1 and 2 are out with the proposal [1].
Who asked BLM to write the NPR-A permitting rule?
The Alaska Oil and Gas Association petitioned for it on May 12, 2026 [1, 2]. BLM says it added environmental and subsistence protections to the petition's version and placed the rule in 43 CFR part 3130 rather than part 3160 [1].

Note on sourcing

This report draws on the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register. It does not draw on the regulatory impact analysis posted in Docket BLM-2026-0133, on the draft EIS Chapters 1 and 2 posted on BLM's ePlanning site, or on the Alaska Oil and Gas Association petition itself; the petition's contents are described as the proposed rule and the May 19 notice of intent summarize them. The proposed rule says five current lessees would qualify at the 25-mile limit but does not name them. No statements from North Slope communities, Tribes, ANCSA corporations, conservation groups or AOGA on the proposal itself appear in the record cited here.

Sources

  1. National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Production Site Development, proposed rule, 91 FR 57091 (FR Doc. 2026-18261)Federal Register (BLM), September 8, 2026 · federalregister.gov
  2. Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Production Site Development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, 91 FR 29155 (FR Doc. 2026-10020)Federal Register (BLM), May 19, 2026 · federalregister.gov
  3. Notice of Availability of the 2025 Record of Decision for the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, Integrated Activity Plan, 91 FR 9296 (FR Doc. 2026-03784)Federal Register (BLM), February 25, 2026 · federalregister.gov
  4. Public Law 119-21, section 50105, National Petroleum Reserve-AlaskaU.S. Government Publishing Office, July 4, 2025 · govinfo.gov
  5. Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, 605 U.S. 168, No. 23-975Supreme Court of the United States, May 29, 2025 · supremecourt.gov

Subject headings

Cross-references

Other register entries filed under the same subject headings.

  1. No. 0028 · Lease notice · 2 shared headingsBOEM proposes Cook Inlet oil and gas Lease Sale BBC2 for March 3, 2027, on terms fixed by statute, Docket BOEM-2026-0925
  2. No. 0025 · Environmental review · 2 shared headingsBLM opens supplemental EIS on Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, moving FERC license order to October 2027, P-14787-004
  3. No. 0020 · Record of decision · 2 shared headingsOSM approves Navajo Mine No Name coal permit application in combined final EIS and record of decision, 91 FR 56204