The Biden administration’s final oil and gas lease sale in Alaska failed to receive any bids this week, as the state sued the administration on the grounds that the auction restricted oil and gas development in the region.

No companies bid for the chance to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It was the second auction in four years that failed to draw strong interest.

The state of Alaska on Wednesday sued the Biden administration over restrictions the federal government imposed in December on oil and gas leases in the Arctic set for auction this week. The

President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday moved to put more of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge off limits to oil and gas development, in a last-minute bid to complicate President-elect Donald Trump's efforts to boost drilling in the area.

Republicans said they were seeking ways to quickly reverse the restrictions in the state’s North Slope region.

The Biden administration is setting in motion actions that could prevent drilling in more “special areas” of Alaska’s north slope — if the incoming Trump administration does not shelve it. The Interior Department issued a memo Thursday proposing a new protected area and prosing to expand existing protected areas.