By Ryan Patrick Jones
(Reuters) – The US state of Alaska has sued the Biden administration for what it says is a violation of a congressional directive to allow oil and gas development in part of the federal Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
A lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Alaska challenges the federal government’s December 2024 decision to offer oil and gas drilling leases in an area known as the Coastal Plain with restrictions.
The lawsuit says land use and occupancy restrictions make it “impossible or impractical to develop” the 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) of land the US Interior Department plans to auction off to oil and gas drillers this month.
The restrictions would severely limit future oil exploration and drilling in the refuge, it added.
“Continued and irrational domestic opposition under the Biden administration to responsible energy development in the Arctic continues America on a path of energy dependence instead of utilizing the vast resources available to us,” Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement.
Alaska wants the court to overturn the December decision and bar the department from issuing leases at auction.
The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management declined to comment.
Combined with the department’s cancellation of leases approved during the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, Alaska says it will receive just a fraction of the $1.1 billion the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would receive in direct lease revenue from energy development in the area.
The lawsuit is Alaska’s latest legal response to the Biden administration’s efforts to protect the 19.6 million-acre (8 million hectares) ANWR for species like polar bears and caribou.
In an October 2023 lawsuit, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority challenged the authority’s decision to cancel seven leases it held. A second state lawsuit in July 2024 demanded the return of the income that was lost as a result.
Drilling in ANWR, the nation’s largest wildlife refuge, has been banned for decades and the subject of bitter political battles between environmentalists and Alaska’s political leaders, who have long supported development of the coastal plain.
In 2017, Alaska lawmakers secured that opportunity through a provision in the Trump-backed tax cut bill passed by Congress. Nine 10-year drilling leases in ANWR were issued in the final days of the Trump administration.
Under Biden, two lease winners withdrew from their properties in 2022. In September, the Interior Department revoked seven issued to the state Industrial Development Authority.
