The Trump administration plans to hold an oil and gas auction for the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in early January, setting up a showdown with opponents less than three weeks before President-elect Biden takes over.

Northern Alaska

The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) set the video livestream lease sale for Jan. 6. The information was published Thursday in a Notice of Sale for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, with the Federal Register notice scheduled for Monday (Dec. 7).

The lease sale program was directed under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which allows at least two area-wide auctions within the Coastal Plain covering at least 400,000 acres.

“Congress directed us to hold lease sales in the ANWR Coastal Plain, and we have...