Lawsuits challenge renewed push for oil drilling in Alaska petroleum reserve and upcoming lease sale

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Conservation organizations and an Iñupiat group filed legal challenges Tuesday to the Trump administration’s renewed push for oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and an upcoming lease sale that they say improperly makes available ecologically sensitive lands that have been long protected.

At least two lawsuits challenging the March 18 lease sale were filed. One, in federal court in Alaska, was brought by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth. Another, in federal court in the District of Columbia, was filed by The Wilderness Society and Grandmothers Growing Goodness, a group seeking to draw attention to the impacts of oil and gas development on Iñupiat communities.

The sale would be the first in the reserve since 2019 and the first under a law passed by Congress last year calling for at least five lease sales there over a 10-year period. The reserve covers an area on Alaska's North Slope that's roughly the size of Indiana and provides habitat for an array of wildlife, including caribou, bears, wolves and millions of migratory birds.

Both lawsuits list as defendants the U.S. Department of Interior, U.S. Bureau of Land Management and top agency officials. The Earthjustice complaint additionally includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. An email seeking comment was sent Tuesday to an Interior Department spokesperson. The land management and fish and wildlife agencies fall under Interior.

This is the latest in a long-running debate over how much of the reserve should be open for development. A plan adopted by the Trump administration would make about 80% of the reserve available for oil and gas leasing.

Supporters say the petroleum reserve's name suggests it's a place where drilling should occur, while critics argue the law balances allowances for drilling with a need to protect sensitive areas. There also are differing views among Alaska Natives about development. A group representing many North Slope leaders has supported drilling in the reserve, while others have raised concerns that projects could negatively impact communities.

The lawsuits say next month's planned lease sale includes tracts of lands in areas near Teshekpuk Lake and the Colville River previously designated as special for their wildlife, subsistence or other values. They say sales notices provide no rationale for why those tracts were included and no acknowledgment by the Bureau of Land Management of prior findings that lands in those areas should be off limits to leasing.

The case filed by Earthjustice said a management plan for the reserve underpinning the lease sale “unlawfully removes lands from the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area and eliminates the Colville River Special Area.” A longstanding federal law pertaining to oil and gas development in the reserve gives the Interior secretary authority “to designate special areas for maximum protection of identified significant resource values,” the lawsuit states. “Congress has not authorized the Secretary to remove lands from or eliminate special areas, especially where those lands still contain the significant resource values that supported their designation.”

Teshekpuk Lake is the largest lake in Alaska’s arctic region. The Colville River and associated wetlands provide habitat for nesting raptors and supports subsistence activities for residents on Alaska's North Slope, the lawsuit says.

It asks a judge to invalidate any leases issued in the upcoming sale and to block future sales based on what the plaintiffs argue are flawed environmental reviews and land management plans.

The other lawsuit asks a judge to declare as arbitrary and improper a decision by an Interior Department official canceling a right-of-way issued during the Biden administration that was aimed at protecting the Teshekpuk caribou herd and habitat across roughly 1 million acres within the special area. It also challenges the validity of the tracts offered for lease that fall within the now-canceled right of way and other tracts nearby that overlap with caribou habitat and that the Bureau of Land Management has classified as having high oil and gas development potential.