The Department of the Interior (DOI) on Tuesday suspended the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program launched by the Trump administration in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

ANWR Coastal Plain

The order signed by DOI Secretary Deb Haaland halts “all activities related to the implementation of” the program, including leases awarded in the program’s first and only sale on Jan. 6 in the waning days of Trump’s presidency.

Activities are suspended “pending completion of a comprehensive analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act,” otherwise known as NEPA, according to DOI.

Haaland has ordered DOI to conduct an analysis of the program’s potential environmental impacts, “and to address legal deficiencies in the current leasing program’s environmental...