JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The first oil and gas lease sale held in years in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska was touted by officials Wednesday as the strongest to date, drawing hundreds of bids and interest from major oil companies despite pending legal challenges from environmentalists and some Indigenous groups.

It was the first sale in the reserve since 2019 and the first under a law passed by Congress last year calling for at least five lease sales there over a 10-year period, amid a renewed push by the Trump administration to expand oil and gas development in Alaska. The U.S. Department of Interior said 11 companies submitted bids on 187 tracts covering 1.3 million acres (526,000 hectares). The sale offered 625 tracts over about 5.5 million acres (2.2 million hectares).

State political leaders cheered the result, with Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy calling it a “major win for our state and our country.” Business, oil and gas and resource development groups issued a joint statement that said the “strong participation and unprecedented results underscore renewed investor confidence in Alaska’s North Slope and the state’s long-term resource potential.” Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, an advocacy group whose members include North Slope leaders, called the sale an important milestone.

The petroleum reserve is home to the large Willow oil project, authorized in 2023 by the Biden administration and currently under development by ConocoPhillips Alaska. The reserve, roughly the size of Indiana on Alaska’s North Slope, provides habitat for an array of wildlife, including caribou, bears, wolves and millions of migratory birds.

Critics of the drilling push have raised concerns about the potential impacts on parts of the reserve previously designated as special for their wildlife, subsistence or other values, including around Teshekpuk Lake. The lake is the largest in Alaska’s arctic region.

Kristen Miller, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League, in a statement called the region “one of the last truly wild places on Earth, home to millions of migrating birds, vast caribou herds and Indigenous communities whose lives are woven into this land.”

“We will spend every ounce of our energy making sure those leases never become drill pads,” she said.

Several lawsuits challenging the lease sale, the management plan underpinning it or related actions are pending.

Jeremy Lieb, an attorney with Earthjustice, which is representing conservation groups in one of the cases, in statement said amid climate change and high energy prices, “it’s clear that the best way forward is switching to low-cost, clean energy sources – not attempting to produce more expensive, ecologically destructive Arctic oil.”

In another case, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason this week stayed the Trump administration’s cancellation of a right of way issued to Nuiqsut Trilateral, Inc., an organization formed by the Native Village of Nuiqsut, Kuukpik Corporation and the City of Nuiqsut, until the group’s lawsuit challenging the cancellation is resolved.

The right of way, issued late in the Biden administration, allowed for restricting oil and gas development and was aimed at protecting the Teshekpuk caribou herd and habitat across roughly 1 million acres (405,000 hectares).

In the cancellation, a deputy Interior secretary cited “serious and fundamental legal deficiencies” in the issuance of the right of way.

Kevin Pendergast, Alaska state director for the Bureau of Land Management, did not mention Gleason’s decision during the livestreamed bid openings. The agency, in response to questions from The Associated Press, confirmed in a statement that lease offerings within the right of way were included in the sale.

“Any lease issuance for tracts within the right of way will be consistent with the court’s order,” the statement said.

Travis Annatoyn, an attorney for Nuiqsut Trilateral, said in a statement that the Interior Department told the group it “will not authorize activities prohibited by the Right-of-Way, absent Nuiqsut Trilateral’s waiver,” as long as the stay is in effect.

“The issuance of leases in the subject acreage is prohibited by the Right-of-Way, so we expect that leases will not be awarded in that acreage absent further action from NTI and appropriate discussions between NTI and Interior,” the statement said.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Jessie Holmes is back again as Iditarod champion.

The field of mushers and the elements threw everything at Holmes, but he never flinched, crossing under the burled arch at 9:32 p.m. Tuesday to claim his second consecutive Iditarod victory.

Holmes led the race ever since he passed Cantwell veteran Paige Drobny on the trail between Cripple and Ruby, where he claimed the “First to the Yukon” prize, a gourmet five-course meal.

The Brushkana veteran maintained a strong presence at the front of the field throughout the roughly 1,000-mile endurance race that was inspired by the vaunted “Serum Run” of 1925.

Last year, Holmes emerged victorious in the wee hours of the night to claim his first Iditarod title in a finishing time of 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes, 44 seconds.

That was on a revised course that started in Fairbanks, due to bad snow conditions.

This year, he completed the full — true — course that winds its way from Willow to Nome.

With the victory, Holmes joins a short list of mushers who repeated as champion one year after winning their first — Susan Butcher and Lance Mackey are the only other ones to accomplish that feat.

As a regular on the reality TV show “Life Below Zero” — which follows subsistence hunters in rural Alaska — Holmes has now put himself into the record books of multi-time Iditarod champions.

Jesse Holmes Iditarod history

He’s now finished in the top 10 seven times out of nine attempts, including top-5 finishes in each of the past five years.

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The state has won a key federal approval for its plan to award nearly $630 million to more than a dozen companies to help modernize internet service in Alaska.

The money represents the largest single chunk of federal funds ever committed to improving online access across the state, officials said.

It will extend high-speed internet to more than 46,000 homes and businesses in the state, bringing at least 100 megabyte download speeds to areas currently considered “unserved” or “underserved” when it comes to digital connectivity.

Many are located in rural sections of the state. But the program will also be deployed in the outskirts of Anchorage and other cities, improving service to houses and cellphones.

Once built, the projects will transform life even in Alaska’s most remote corners, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement.

“This will open up new opportunities for Alaskans to access jobs and education, start new businesses, and connect with healthcare providers in real time, which has not been possible until now,” he said.

The money is part of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program, or BEAD.

Created in the bipartisan, Biden-era infrastructure bill, it seeks to bridge the nation’s digital divide.

The Alaska Broadband Office still awaits one last federal approval that’s viewed as a formality, officials say. But the 15 award recipients, ranging from the state’s largest telecommunications company to small tribal entities, should begin receiving final approval for the awards in the coming months, they say.

The companies plan 29 projects to deliver fiber, wireless or satellite services, or hybrid versions.

Large providers, such as GCI and Alaska Communications, are on deck to receive more than $100 million apiece under the program.

Tiny entities are poised to also receive grants, such as the tribal government for Atka in the Aleutian Islands, set for a $4.9 million grant to deliver wireless service to 432 homes and businesses.

Christine O’Connor — head of the Alaska Telecom Association, which represents many telecommunications providers — said internet service has improved a lot in Alaska.

Two other federal programs, ReConnect and Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program, have together injected about $1 billion into the state in recent years, she said.

Those were also supported with funding from the infrastructure act.

O’Connor said this latest funding will help complete the build-out. It represents the largest federal investment at one time for improving digital connectivity in Alaska, she said.

Dozens of communities in the state still have extremely limited internet service, she said.

This will change that, allowing many families for the first time to do things like stream video-conference calls with multiple people, download movies or better promote their businesses on social media.

“If you’ve got really slow or no internet, and then all of a sudden you have a 100-megabit minimum speed, that goes from being barely able to function in the digital landscape of our world to having complete access,” she said.

“So it’s night and day when you think of everything we do online these days,” she said.

SpaceX among the winners

Space Exploration Technologies, the owner of Starlink, is set to receive $23.6 million to deliver service to more than 15,000 homes and businesses across the state.

The win for SpaceX came after the Trump administration revised rules to create what it described as a technology neutral program that gave satellite-based providers a better chance of winning a grants over fiber, considered the gold standard for internet service.

O’Connor said that even without that revision, satellite-based internet would have been part of the grant-supported programs in Alaska, given the state’s many far-flung communities.

“It’s not cost effective or even possible to reach everyone without using some satellite capacity,” she said.

U.S. Commerce Assistant Secretary Arielle Roth recently approved the state’s $629 million in proposed awards, the state said in a prepared statement.

The awards still must be approved by National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal agency, O’Connor said. But that’s expected to be a routine review, she said.

After that, the state will have six months to finalize the contracts, which then will start the clock on a four-year period for providers to complete the projects, she said.

In total, Alaska has been allocated $1 billion under the program.

The federal government has not yet said exactly how the remainder of the state’s allocation can be spent, O’Connor said. It will also support broadband access.

Alaska Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski praised the approval of the state’s program, in a prepared statement. They had joined the late Republican Rep. Don Young in voting for the infrastructure act in 2021.

“These funds will go a long way toward the goal of connecting every Alaskan” and unlock telehealth, education and business opportunities, Sullivan said.

“Importantly, it will better allow Alaskans to connect with one another,” he said.

GCI will expand rural network

GCI, Alaska’s largest telecommunications company, is set to receive three grants, said Megan Webb, a spokesperson.

She said federal approval of the state’s proposal is a “major milestone for Alaska.”

It comes after years of planning by telecommunications companies, she said.

The largest grant to GCI, at $115 million, will help expand the company’s rural Airraq network, adding 16 villages in Southwest Alaska, Webb said.

The plan involves hybrid services using fiber and microwave, to improve slow internet speeds in those communities, she said.

The locations include Mountain Village, Chefornak, St. Mary’s, Mekoryuk, Kipnuk, Goodnews Bay and Togiak, she said.

The company also won two additional grants, totaling almost $6 million, to improve service on the fringes of Anchorage and Eagle River.

That will be useful for first responders in remote areas, cellphone users and households, she said.

“It will improve access to broadband and support improved mobile connectivity in Ship Creek, Bear Valley, Rabbit Creek and the south fork of Eagle River,” she said.

ACS adding thousands of homes

Alaska Communications is set to receive three grants totaling more than $123 million.

The company plans to deliver fiber and advanced wireless infrastructure to over 9,000 homes and businesses. It also plans to invest $26.7 million of its own capital to extend broadband to an additional 12,000 locations, said Heather Cavanaugh, a spokesperson.

The expansion will deliver speeds of up to a gigabyte in Anchorage, Bird Creek and Indian; along with communities on the Kenai Peninsula, such as Hope, and Kodiak Island, Cavanaugh said. Fairbanks, Manley Hot Springs, Salcha and Delta Junction areas will also see the improved service.

“This investment will make a real difference for families, students, healthcare providers and entrepreneurs who rely on strong connectivity to thrive,” said Paul Fenaroli, president of Alaska Communications, in a prepared statement.

Quintillion has been selected for two projects totaling $48 million, to extend its Arctic fiber network in the Lower Yukon region and on St. Lawrence Island.

“In the Lower Yukon region, Quintillion will extend connections from its Nome-to-Homer Express fiber backbone and build local fiber networks within each community,” said Michael “Mac” McHale, president of the company.

“Some locations will connect to the backbone through existing microwave links, while others will connect directly via fiber,” he said in a prepared statement.

“On St. Lawrence Island, the project will deploy fiber-to-the-home networks supported by satellite backhaul due to the island’s remote location,” he said.

SpitwSpots, launched about 20 years ago to provide hotspot service on the Homer spit, is set to receive $16.7 million. It will also invest some of its own capital to support the project.

The company plans to provide fixed wireless service in the Matanuska Valley, Kenai and Kodiak areas, state records show.

SpitwSpots, whose programs include discounted or free service for low-income households, has recently expanded into the Anchorage market, said Aaron Larson, the company’s founder.

He said there are over 2,000 unserved houses and buildings in Anchorage.

“You’d be surprised,” he said. “There’s a lot of places that don’t have any access to internet, or only have access to DSL,” he said, referring to old, slow digital subscriber lines.