The EIS considered the impacts of revoking the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals on lands described in the January 2021 Public Land Orders 7899, 7900, 7901, 7902, and 7903. The proposed revocations had the potential to allow obtaining mining claims (location) or applications for title (entry) under public land laws, including the mining laws, and may result in changes to the land use. The EIS also considers a range of alternatives. Alternatives included full or partial revocation of the ANCSA 17(d)(1) withdrawals, two alternatives would have revoked some areas of the withdrawals but left other areas with the withdrawal in place.

Defects associated with the decision making process for the PLOs include insufficient analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act, inadequate consultation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), possible failure to adequately evaluate impacts under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), failure to secure consent from the Department of Defense (DoD) with regard to lands under DoD administration as required by Section 204(i) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) (43 U.S.C. 1714(i)), failure to adequately analyze potential impacts on subsistence hunting and fishing, and reliance on potentially outdated data in the EISs prepared in 2006 and 2007.

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Sec. 17(d)(1) withdrew all unreserved public lands in Alaska for 90 days, during which time the Secretary of the Interior was required to review these public lands to determine if any of the lands should be later withdrawn to ensure the public interest in the lands was protected. After the review, the Secretary then used the authority to issue a series of public land orders that withdrew lands for (1) selection by ANCSA Native Corporations and (2) for protection of the public interest. These public land orders are what we now call “d-1 withdrawals” or “ANCSA 17(d)(1) PLOs.” Many of the Public Land Orders issued after the 90-day review withdrew the lands from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including mining and mineral leasing laws. However, over the years, many of these public land orders have been modified to include some types of appropriation, such as state selection, or have been modified to allow mining and mineral leasing.