Lease sales in Cook Inlet draw virtually zero interest from oil and gas companies
By Alex Demarban
Published on March 5, 2026.
A federal oil and gas auction in Cook Inlet, Alaska, generated zero offers from bidders, despite President Donald Trump's promise to "drill, baby, drill." Conservation groups have criticized the lack of interest in exploring the waters off the Kenai Peninsula, despite a looming shortage of natural gas from the Inlet. The Sierra Club's director of Lands Protection Program described the lease sale as a "big, fat failure". The state's oil & gas lease sale also generated just one small bid for a single tract. Conservation groups argue that the Trump administration failed to assess the potential harm of potential oil and natural gas production to the endangered Cookinlet beluga whale, the northern sea otter, and other species protected under federal law.
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