Alaska sues to challenge new NPR-A oil and gas leasing rules
The state of Alaska on Wednesday said it has filed a lawsuit challenging new federal regulations imposed for oil and gas leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).
In April, President Joe Biden's administration took steps to limit both oil and gas drilling and mining in Alaska.
The regulations blocked development on 40% of NPR-A to protect wildlife habitat and indigenous communities' way of life, but did not affect existing oil and gas operations.
"The new rules were passed without proper input from affected parties, exceeded their congressional authorization and were rushed into place as an end-run on congressional oversight," the state of Alaska said in a statement.
The NPR-A, as it is known, is a 23-million-acre (9.3-million hectare) area on the state's North Slope that is the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the United States.
"This lawsuit seeks to prevent overreach by federal agencies that disregard Alaska's rights", Alaskan Attorney General Treg Taylor said.
Alaska said it had sought to participate in the rulemaking process, submitted thoughtful comments and requested additional time to prepare comments. However, it claims that the "rules were passed in haste to beat a potential change in congressional oversight".
Earlier on Tuesday, Alaska sued the federal government seeking to recover revenues it lost out on after the Biden administration canceled oil and gas drilling leases in the 19.6-million-acre (7.9-million-hectare) federal Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation