The decision is in line with Trump’s executive order to release Alaska’s natural resources.
The Department of the Interior announced on May 6 that it has transferred around 1.4 million acres of land along the Dalton Utility Corridor to Alaska, giving the state more control over its resources.
“This corridor encompasses some of Alaska’s most critical transportation and energy assets, including portions of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System corridor, the Dalton Highway, and proposed routes for the Ambler Road and Alaska Liquified Natural Gas projects,” the department said in a May 6 statement.
“With conveyance of these lands north of the Yukon River, the Bureau of Land Management has fulfilled more than 96 percent of the state’s entitlement under the Alaska Statehood Act, expanding Alaska’s opportunities for resource development, strengthening local economies, and enhancing the state’s control of its own economic destiny.”
The 1959 Alaska Statehood Act authorized the transfer of roughly 105 million acres of federal land to the state. With the recent transfer, Alaska has 3.8 million acres remaining out of its 105 million-acre entitlement under the act.
According to the Department of the Interior, the land transfer unlocks various resource opportunities in the state, in line with President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order, “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.”
In the order, Trump wrote that Alaska holds an “abundant and largely untapped supply” of natural resources that can only be unleashed by ending the “assault on Alaska’s sovereignty and its ability to responsibly develop these resources for the benefit of the Nation.”
Commenting on the recent land transfer, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said that the decisive action puts Alaska at the forefront of American Energy Dominance.
“President Trump is delivering on his commitment to unleash Alaska’s vast resources—advancing the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas project, the Ambler Road, and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline—to strengthen our economy, bolster national security, and drive down costs for American families,” Burgum said.
