Alaska sues Biden administration over oil and gas drilling leases in Arctic refuge
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Lawsuit challenges the federal government’s December 2024 decision to add restrictions to offer of drilling leases. The US state of Alaska has sued the Biden administration for what it calls violations of a congressional directive to allow oil and gas development in a portion of the federal Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The federal lawsuit in the US district court in Alaska filed on Monday challenges the federal government’s December 2024 decision to add restrictions to an offer of oil and gas drilling leases in an area known as the coastal plain. The lawsuit said curbs on surface use and occupancy make it “impossible or impracticable to develop” 400,000 acres of land the US interior department plans to auction this month to oil and gas drillers.
The limits would severely limit future oil exploration and drilling in the refuge, it added. “Interior’s continued and irrational 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 we have available,” Mike Dunleavy, Alaska’s Republican governor, said in a statement.
Alaska wants the court to set aside the December decision and prohibit the department from issuing leases at the auction. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management declined to comment.
When combined with the department’s cancellation of leases granted during the waning days of Donald Trump’s presidency, Alaska says it will receive just a fraction of the $1.1bn the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would get in direct lease-related revenues from energy development in the area.
