No one truly knows how much crude oil lies beneath the refuge, where only one exploratory well has ever been drilled, in the mid-1980s. But the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated, based on seismic data, that the coastal plain contains between 4.3 billion and 11.8 billion barrels of oil. (For context, the United States produced a record 4.6 billion barrels of oil in 2024.)

I could be missing something, but this sounds like exactly what you want to leave untapped, if its “only” 2ish years worth of oil?