Alaska wins lawsuit that could open Arctic refuge to oil exploration
Research biologists pause among the wetlands of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, with the Brooks Range in the background. (Photo by Lisa Hupp/USFWS)
A federal judge in Anchorage has ruled in favor of Alaska's state-owned investment bank in a lawsuit that could clear the way for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In an order published Tuesday, Judge Sharon Gleason wrote that the U.S. Department of the Interior acted illegally when it canceled oil and gas leases held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority on land within the refuge.
'Having reviewed the parties' arguments, the court concludes that DOI was required to obtain a court order before canceling AIDEA's leases,' Gleason said in her 22-page decision.
AIDEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Cori Mills, Alaska's deputy attorney general, called the decision a victory.
'The state looks forward to working with the current federal administration on fully realizing the vast potential of ANWR to grow Alaska's economy and help America's energy independence,' she said by email. 'It is unfortunate we have lost a significant amount of time litigating, instead of moving forward with field studies and development. We will continue to review the decision in more detail but it's definitely a victory.'
Tuesday's order was the result of a lawsuit filed by AIDEA against the federal government last year, when the Biden administration canceled oil and gas leases that AIDEA won in a January 2021 sale.
Two other companies also won leases during the sale but later surrendered them to the federal government, leaving AIDEA as the only company holding leases within the refuge's coastal plain, which is believed to hold significant oil and gas reserves, just as nearby state land does.
The Biden administration claimed that the sale — conducted under the auspices of the first Trump administration — was flawed and thus illegal.
It first suspended, then canceled the leases, prompting AIDEA to sue in 2024.
Gleason had upheld the Biden administration's suspension order, but when it came to the cancellation, she ruled in AIDEA's favor, citing a provision of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that enabled the ANWR leases.
That act said in part that the Interior Department 'shall manage the oil and gas program on the Coastal Plain in a manner similar to the administration of lease sales under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976.'
Gleason wrote: 'Among the NPRPA's implementing regulations is a regulation that provides that '(p)roducing leases or leases known to contain valuable deposits of oil or gas may be canceled only by court order.''
But the Interior Department didn't obtain a court order, Gleason noted.
'Accordingly, federal defendants' cancellation of AIDEA's leases was not in accordance with law because it failed to seek a court order,' she wrote.
Several environmental and tribal groups sided with the federal government during the course of the lawsuit and had requested the ability to offer alternative solutions if Gleason ruled in favor of AIDEA.
She turned them down, writing, 'DOI's error is serious: DOI cancelled AIDEA's leases without following the congressionally mandated procedure for doing so.'
In light of that finding, she vacated the department's lease cancellation decision, saying the department — now back in the hands of the Trump administration — may decide what to do next.
In a statement released last week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said he intends to open the refuge's entire 1.56 million-acre coastal plain to development, indicating that AIDEA will be given a free hand on its leases.
For its part, AIDEA has said in multiple court filings that if allowed to proceed, it will conduct seismic testing and other preliminary work necessary to determine how much oil and gas lies within its leases.
Among the various environmental and tribal groups that stood with the federal government in opposition to AIDEA was the Gwich'in Steering Committee, represented by attorneys from Trustees for Alaska.
'This disappointing ruling ignores the destruction oil drilling will do to our communities and only deepens our resolve in fiercely defending the coastal plain from oil and gas extraction,' said Kristen Moreland, executive director of the Gwich'in Steering Committee. 'We will always protect the caribou, our way of life, and future generations.'
The Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, Arctic Village Council, and Venetie Village Council, represented by the Native American Rights Fund, said in a statement that they will continue to oppose drilling in ANWR and that 'multiple legal and administrative pathways remain to ensure proper environmental review before any ground-disturbing activities could occur.'
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Even TotalEnergies itself filed a lawsuit against Greenpeace for misleading information contained in a report claiming that TotalEnergies deliberately underestimated its carbon footprint. The court dismissed the case, prompting celebrations at Greenpeace, but TotalEnergies' move to sue signaled a change in the industry with regard to activists and their attacks on it. What this latest lawsuit shows is that these attacks are nowhere near done, which was only to be expected. Climate activists want all hydrocarbons to stay in the ground regardless of emission footprint. But because oil has been overused as a scarecrow, it is now the turn of natural gas, which is objectively cleaner, in terms of CO2 emissions and particulate material emissions, than coal and oil. Demand for natural gas is rising globally, many countries are trying to switch from coal to gas precisely because it is cleaner in terms of actual physical pollution. From the activists' perspective, this cannot be allowed to happen because gas is as much a hydrocarbon as is oil and as is coal. Cue the lawfare. In truth, if the activists win this case, the victory will be mostly symbolic. They could probably get the court to order TotalEnergies to add a tobacco-style warning to its promotional materials but they could not force it to stop its LNG developments around the world—because this world needs gas and the ones supplying this gas are the energy companies like TotalEnergies. In further truth, there is already a shift underway to reduce methane leaks along the natural gas supply chain. There are even certification providers that guarantee certain gas cargos are low-emission ones, and buyers are willing to pay a premium for them. Reducing methane leaks is more gas for sale, after all. The activists probably do not delude themselves into thinking a court order that can stop TotalEnergies advertising can also stop it from producing natural gas. 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