The Bureau of Land Management opened a 15-day scoping period on Aug. 26 for a proposed 30-year renewal of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System's right-of-way, the first step in an environmental review of whether the 800-mile line can keep operating for three more decades. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, which operates the pipeline, filed the renewal application that triggered the review.

Who owns the pipeline

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company operates the Trans Alaska Pipeline System on behalf of three owner companies: Harvest Alaska, LLC; ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska Inc.; and ExxonMobil Pipeline Company LLC. Alyeska filed the 30-year right-of-way renewal application with BLM, which opened its 15-day scoping period on Aug. 26 in response and will carry out the review under the National Environmental Policy Act.

A line that has moved 19 billion barrels

The Trans Alaska Pipeline System was first authorized in 1974 and built between 1974 and 1977. It has since carried more than 19 billion barrels of oil from Alaska's North Slope to in-state refineries and the Valdez Marine Terminal, moving an average of 463,000 barrels a day in 2025.

The reaction

BLM Alaska State Director Kevin Pendergast called the pipeline "still an engineering marvel" nearly 50 years after it was built. He said the agency is "acting now to secure the pipeline's future" as it works to develop the energy resources of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Scoping period and how to comment

The scoping period runs through Sept. 10, 2026. A scoping period is the point in a NEPA review when the lead agency gathers public and agency comment before it drafts the environmental analysis a permit decision will rely on. BLM is taking comment on this review through the BLM National NEPA Register, filed under NEPA number DOI-BLM-AK-9410-2026-0009-EA.

Policy context

BLM said the review builds on Department of the Interior work under Executive Order 14153, Secretary's Order 3422 ("Unleashing Alaska's Extraordinary Resource Potential") and Executive Order 14154 ("Unleashing American Energy"). That policy push has streamlined permitting in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which BLM said has resulted in lease sales it expects to increase production.