Alaska sues Biden administration over oil and gas leases in Arctic refuge

By Ryan Patrick Jones

(Reuters) - The U.S. 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).

Monday's lawsuit in the 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 said curbs on surface use and occupancy make it "impossible or impracticable to develop" 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) of land the U.S. 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," Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy 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 $1.1 billion 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 19.6-million-acre (8-million-hectare) 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 revenue lost as a result.

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. In the final days of Trump's administration, it issued nine 10-year leases for drilling in ANWR.

Under 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.

(Additional reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Heather Timmons and Clarence Fernandez)