[[{“value”:”
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.
The lawsuit is Alaska’s latest legal response to the Biden administration’s efforts to protect the 19.6m-acre ANWR for species such as polar bears and caribou.
An October 2023 lawsuit by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority contested the administration’s decision to cancel the seven leases it held. Another state lawsuit in July 2024 sought to recover resulting revenue lost.
Drilling in the ANWR, the largest national wildlife refuge, was off-limits for decades and the subject of fierce political fights between environmentalists and Alaska’s political leaders, who have long supported development in the coastal plain.
In 2017, Alaska lawmakers secured that opportunity through a provision in a Trump-backed tax cut bill passed by Congress, later issuing 10-year leases.
Under Joe Biden, two lease winners withdrew from their holdings in 2022. In September, the interior department canceled the seven issued to the state industrial development body.
We give you energy news and help invest in energy projects too, click here to learn more
Crude Oil, LNG, Jet Fuel price quote
ENB Top News
ENB
Energy Dashboard
ENB Podcast
ENB Substack
The post Alaska sues Biden administration over oil and gas drilling leases in Arctic refuge appeared first on Energy News Beat.
“}]]
Energy News Beat