Court Upholds Suspending Oil & Gas Leases in Arctic Refuge, Dismisses Claims from AIDEA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2023
Contact:
Aileo Weinmann | aileo@alaskawild.org
Court Upholds Suspending Oil & Gas Leases in Arctic Refuge, Dismisses Claims from AIDEA
“We celebrate the court’s decision because it confirms the right of President Biden and the Department of the Interior to correct the Trump administration’s mistakes, restoring thoughtful decision-making that honors the intent and direction our nation’s conservation laws.”
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A U.S. District Court upheld the Department of the Interior’s authority to suspend leases and oil and gas activities on lands held sacred by the Gwich’in Peoples of Alaska and Canada. The Court dismissed all claims made by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) and the State of Alaska in a lawsuit attempting to force the Department of the Interior to move forward an illegal drilling program on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Trustees for Alaska intervened in that lawsuit on behalf of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, Alaska Wilderness League and allied groups to defend the Department of the Interior’s suspension of leases and oil and gas activities.
Statement by Andy Moderow, Senior Director of Policy, Alaska Wilderness League:
“The court ruling confirmed that the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge can’t be determined solely by reading a few sentences authorizing oil and gas lease sales – snuck into a bill without thorough discussion in 2017 – while ignoring conservation and subsistence laws that were carefully crafted to protect our nation’s air, land, waters and traditions,” said Andy Moderow, senior director of policy for Alaska Wilderness League. “That’s precisely what the Trump administration did when it issued leases to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. We celebrate the court’s decision because it confirms the right of President Biden and the Department of the Interior to correct the Trump administration’s mistakes, restoring thoughtful decision-making that honors the intent and direction our nation’s conservation laws.”
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