Regenerate Alaska requested the cancellation and its money back, according to a statement provided by the Interior Department’s media office that said the lease was canceled and that the “Office of Natural Resources Revenue refunded full bonus bid and first year rentals.” The statement did not include the amount of the refund.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management last summer said it was moving ahead with a new environmental review of oil and gas leasing in the refuge after Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said she found “multiple legal deficiencies” in a previous review that provided a basis for the lease sale.Chevron and Hilcorp previously canceled interests in older leases on a tract of land owned by an Alaska Native corporation within the refuge’s borders.