Trump Renames McKinley, Removes Alaskan Wilderness Protections

The 47th president of the United States wasted no time putting his agenda into action. President Donald Trump issued a flurry of executive orders following his Monday inauguration, many of them aimed at reversing environmental policies from former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But it’s Alaska — a longtime battleground between environmentalists and oil and gas developers — that received immediate attention on Trump’s first day in office.

First, Trump changed the name of North America’s highest mountain back to Mt. McKinley, undoing a 2015 Obama decision to call it Denali. (That executive order also purports to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.) And while Alaska senators expressed disappointment with Trump’s decision to remove a native name, they celebrated another of his executive orders.

With a swipe of his pen, Trump also removed environmental protections that limited oil and gas extraction, logging, and other development projects throughout the state. That includes the comeback of the controversial Ambler Road project. Trump’s decision aligns with the Republican-controlled state, where lawmakers praised his plans to restart energy development in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

“Alaska is unleashed!” Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said on social media. “On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order recognizing Alaska as a true energy warehouse, paving the way for unprecedented opportunities in resource development and energy independence.”

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Alexis Bonogofsky for USFWS

Impact on Alaskan wilderness

Trump’s efforts include a range of resource extraction projects that had been blocked by previous administrations, especially Biden’s.

His Monday order made the following changes:

• A reversal of Biden’s actions to halt oil and gas exploration in the ANWR. Trump spearheaded efforts to allow oil and gas development in the refuge during his first term, which was undone during the Biden administration.
• The denial of a request considered by the Biden administration that would have established a sacred Indigenous site in the ANWR.
• A revival of the Ambler Road project. In 2024, Biden rejected a right-of-way permit for building a 300km road through iconic Alaskan wilderness like the Brooks Range. Now it’s back on the table.
• A return of a first-term Trump order allowing oil and gas development on 11 million hectares of federal land. Initially protected through the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, Trump removed them, Biden restored them — and now Trump is removing them again.
• Trump also seeks to repeal something called the “Roadless Rule.” Meant to limit logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, it’s another action that Trump took in his first term that was reversed by Biden.
• The reinstatement of a 2020 Trump rule allowing for increased hunting and trapping on federal preserves throughout the state.
• A denial of a request considered by the Biden administration that would have established a sacred Indigenous site in the ANWR.

And that’s not everything. The order also demands “expedited development” of a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, supports greater state control of Alaskan waterways, and seeks to expand “the development of Alaska’s liquified natural gas (LNG) potential, including the sale and transportation of Alaskan LNG to other regions of the United States and allied nations with the Pacific region.”

‘National energy emergency’

While Alaska’s conservative political leaders mostly applauded Trump’s plans, it’s unclear how quickly they could come to fruition — or if oil and gas companies are even interested.

This month, the U.S. Department of the Interior had opened bidding for oil and gas leases in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The agency did not receive a single bid, according to a January 8 statement.

“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is cherished internationally for its ecological value and held to be a sacred place by neighboring Gwich’in communities — this is  no place to drill for oil,” said Erik Grafe, an attorney for environmental group Earthjustice.

“It’s unsurprising, then, that no major oil companies showed up to bid. They seem to understand that drilling in this remote landscape is too risky, too complicated, and just plain wrong. The incoming Trump administration still hasn’t gotten the memo and has vowed to keep trying to sell the Refuge for oil.”

Alaska isn’t the only state in the crosshairs of Trump’s agenda, however. Trump also withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address climate change, and hopes to undercut California’s steeper requirements for car emissions and fuel economy.

“Today, I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said during his inauguration to loud applause.

This story first appeared on GearJunkie.