JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. government plans another oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — following two prior sales that saw no interest from major oil companies and amid ongoing litigation aimed at blocking drilling in a region seen as sacred by the indigenous Gwich’in.

The sale will be held June 5, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Friday. It would be the first in the region under a law passed by Congress last year calling for four lease sales in the refuge’s coastal plain over a 10-year period. But it would be the third in the refuge overall, following one held near the end of President Donald Trump’s first term that has been tangled in litigation and another in early 2025, shortly before then-President Joe Biden left office, that yielded no bids.

Drilling supporters, including Alaska political leaders, argued last year’s sale was too meager an offering to draw interest.

The upcoming sale also would be the third federal oil and gas lease sale this year alone in Alaska under an aggressive push by the Trump administration to expand development in the state. There were no bidders in a sale last month for the aging Cook Inlet basin, while a lease sale in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska — where the large Willow oil project is under development — drew hundreds of bids despite pending legal challenges to the sale.

Bill Groffy, the land management agency’s acting director, in a statement said the success of last month’s petroleum reserve sale signaled a “robust and continuing demand for Alaskan energy, underscoring the need for more opportunities like the Coastal Plain sale.”

Leaders from Gwich’in villages near the arctic refuge and conservation groups vowed to continue fighting efforts to open the refuge’s coastal plain to drilling. The Gwich’in consider the coastal plain sacred, as it provides calving grounds for a caribou herd they rely on. The plain, bordering the Beaufort Sea in northeast Alaska and featuring rolling hills and tundra, also provides habitat for wildlife including muskoxen and migratory birds.

“The Trump Administration’s relentless push to auction off this sacred land despite overwhelming public opposition and industry that has already signaled they are not interested makes clear that this administration values corporate interests over the rights and lives of Indigenous peoples,” Galen Gilbert, first chief of Arctic Village Council, said in a statement. “We will continue to fight with every tool available to protect the Coastal Plain for our children and all future generations.”

Debate over drilling in the region spans decades.

Leaders of Kaktovik, an Iñupiaq community within the refuge, consider responsible development key to their region’s economic well-being and have welcomed efforts by the Trump administration to open more lands for drilling.

The Bureau of Land Management has said the coastal plain could contain 4.25 billion to 11.8 billion barrels of recoverable oil, but there is limited information about the amount and quality of oil. Meanwhile, conservation groups see the refuge as the crown jewel of the country’s refuge system and a place that should be off-limits to development. The refuge itself is the largest in the country, covering an area roughly the size of South Carolina.

Andy Moderow, senior director of policy at Alaska Wilderness League, said the planned sale “simply runs counter to common sense.”

“Any oil and gas company that is even thinking about buying these leases should know that, if they do, they will be sending a clear message to the American people that no place in Alaska is too sacred to drill in a quest for corporate profits,” he said in a statement urging companies to sit out the sale.

Fundraising for Alaska’s U.S. Senate and House races has jumped into high gear, with candidates raising millions of dollars in the latest fundraising round in the lead-up to the November election.

Alaska’s U.S. Senate race between incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola is seen as one of a handful of key contests across the country that could determine whether Republicans maintain control of the U.S. Senate in the coming midterm elections.

Peltola hauled in close to $9 million, a record amount for a first-quarter period in an Alaska Senate contest, her campaign said in a statement earlier this week.

Peltola’s fundraising outpaced Sullivan’s by roughly a 5-1 margin, helping give a quick boost to her campaign, though Sullivan has more cash on hand.

Peltola is a former U.S. House lawmaker from Western Alaska who supported gun rights, ConocoPhillips’ controversial Willow oil project, protections for fish and improvements for Alaska infrastructure.

Sullivan is a second-term senator, former U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer and strong advocate of President Donald Trump who has supported resource development in the state, military expansion and infrastructure improvements.

Recent polls favor Peltola, but Alaska voters typically favor Republican incumbents for federal office.

Sullivan has said he expects to be heavily outspent but plans to prevail, similar to 2020 when he coasted to victory over independent challenger Al Gross, and 2014 when he beat Democratic incumbent Mark Begich.

Peltola’s campaign reported $8.7 million in total receipts for the year’s first three months, according to its filing with the Federal Election Commission.

The vast majority of contributions, at $7.6 million, came from individuals. The remainder, about $1.1 million, came from political committees, including about $650,000 from committees authorized by Peltola, the report showed.

Peltola, who recently completed the first part of a tour of rural Alaska villages, said in the statement that Alaska fishermen, farmers, teachers, nurses, firefighters and others contributed.

Peltola’s campaign spent about $2.9 million, the report says. About $1.5 million of that went to companies for digital fundraising efforts.

The campaign has $5.7 million cash on hand.

“Alaskans know DC isn’t working for them, and they’re ready for change,” Peltola said in the statement from her campaign. “It’s going to take all of us, but together we’ll take on the rigged system in DC that’s hurting each and every one of these communities. We are going to put Alaska first.”

The Fish Family Freedom Fund, a political action committee authorized by Peltola that supports her campaign, raised about $845,000 in the quarter, according to its report to the commission.

Peltola’s campaign also received large donations from notable philanthropists and Democratic politicians, such as $7,000 from Gov. JB Pritzker, the Illinois governor and vocal Trump critic.

Several left-leaning political action committees also contributed to Peltola’s campaign, including the Blue Dog Political Action Committee, a group of centrist House Democrats that advocate for fiscal responsibility and on national security issues.

Peltola joined the Blue Dog caucus in 2023, several months after she became the first Alaska Native elected to Congress. She lost the seat in 2024 to Rep. Nick Begich, a Republican, when Trump surged to victory amid lackluster support for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Sullivan’s campaign took in $1.7 million in total receipts, according to its report the FEC.

Close to half that, or $875,000, were contributions from individuals, the report says.

About $275,000 came from political action committees, and another $530,000 came from political committees authorized by the campaign, the report says.

Sullivan donors included executives from ConocoPhillips, Alaska’s biggest oil producer, such as ConocoPhillips Alaska president Erec Isaacson, who gave $1,000. Chugach Alaska Corporation PAC, a political committee for the Alaska Native corporation in Southcentral Alaska, gave $5,000. Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, chief executive of Alaska mining company Contango Ore that operates the Manh Choh mine near Fairbanks, gave $3,505.

John Shively, chair of the Pebble Partnership that seeks to open the controversial Pebble Mine, also donated $500, after giving the same amount in the previous quarter. Sullivan has said he opposes the mine.

Also, more than $400,000 was contributed to the Sullivan Victory fund, a Sullivan-authorized political action committee.

“This historic support sends a clear message: Alaskans know that Dan delivers,” said Nate Adams, the campaign spokesman for Sullivan, in a statement. “From bolstering our Alaska-based military and Coast Guard, unleashing Alaska’s resource economy, and securing historic investments in Alaska’s healthcare system, Senator Sullivan has a proven record of results.”

The Sullivan campaign spent less than $500,000 in the quarter, with a large chunk of that going to companies for fundraising consulting.

The campaign has $7.1 million cash on hand, the report shows.

Begich has cash advantage

In Alaska’s U.S. House race, Begich had more cash in his campaign account at the end of the reporting period than his two challengers combined.

But Bill Hill, an independent former public school educator and commercial fisherman from Naknek, reported raising more than Begich from individual contributions, after entering the race in mid-January.

Candidate Matt Schultz, a Democrat and a pastor at Anchorage First Presbyterian Church, raised less than the other two candidates.

Begich reported having more than $2.8 million in his campaign account at the end of March, after raising just over $700,000 in the first three months of the year, of which nearly $250,000 came from political action committees. He also received $345,000 in transfers from other committees, including $215,000 from Grow the Majority, a committee seeking to defend Republican control of the House.

Begich used $50,000 in campaign contributions to repay part of a loan he made to his campaign account in 2022. His campaign expenditures during the first three months of the year totaled $363,000, including $50,000 on mailing services and $47,000 paid to WinRed, a Republican fundraising platform.

Hill reported having just under $600,000 in his campaign account at the end of March, after raising $783,000 — the vast majority of which came from individual donors.

Hill’s fundraising far surpassed that of Schultz, the other candidate seeking to unseat Begich, who raised $270,000 during the reporting period and had just under $350,000 in his campaign account at the end of March.

Hill spent $188,000 during the reporting period, of which $87,000 went directly to Ship Creek Group, a political consulting agency that has worked for high profile left-of-center campaigns in Alaska, including Peltola’s first run for U.S. House.

Schultz spent $143,000.

Spending ramps up

Other political organizations and committees have also announced early spending, leading to a trickle of campaign ads that is set to become a flood as the campaign season heats up.

The leadership PAC for Senate Republicans announced earlier this month that Alaska is among eight battleground states where it will spend money in the coming election cycle. Alaska will see $15 million in spending from the Senate Leadership Fund as part of its effort to keep Sullivan in office.

Last Frontier Action, an organization supporting Sullivan, has also committed to six-figure spending to support Sullivan and run ads against Peltola.

Majority Forward, an organization supporting Democrats in the Senate, has already begun spending on ads attacking Sullivan.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which seeks to protect the Republican majority in the House, has begun spending money to defend Begich. Alaska is one of a handful of competitive states where the committee is running ads touting the Republican-backed tax bill that passed last year.

Members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are being hailed as heroes after seizing thousands of pounds of illegal fish fins.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is the lead federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior for combating wildlife trafficking in the United States.

In October 2025, the agency proved just that, as wildlife inspectors intercepted 1,600 pounds of shark fins while conducting searches in Anchorage, Alaska, according to a statement from the USFWS.

Officials uncovered shark fins worth over $1 million across multiple U.S. ports, starting with a shipment in Anchorage.

The cargo was disguised as car parts to travel through Alaska, Kentucky and Ohio, and is part of a larger trafficking network, officials stated.

“The coordinated enforcement action was part of Operation Thunder, a global effort to combat illegal wildlife trade,” a statement from the Wildlife Service said.

“These weren’t small-time violations,” a statement from the USFWS said.

“This was an organized criminal network exploiting protected species for profit.”

Officers shared a photo of the 26 boxes of shark fins uncovered in disguise.

Most of the fins come from silky sharks and bigeye thresher sharks, both of which are protected species.

According to the USFWS, wildlife trafficking can harm people by increasing the risk of zoonotic diseases and severely impacting food, land and other natural resources that humans need for survival.