Federal judge cancels Cook Inlet natural gas leases

As the majority of the human population in Alaska’s Railbelt faces power brownouts and possible blackouts this winter and winters far into the future, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason has sided with the environmentalists to block natural gas leases that had already been awarded in Cook Inlet.

Gleason just overturned the 2022 lease sale held in federal waters of Cook Inlet, a lease that was conducted to fulfill requirements of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953, which was enacted to establish an offshore oil and gas leasing regime.

Groups like Cook Inletkeeper, which keeps its funding sources secret, persuaded Gleason that the Department of Interior didn’t properly analyze impacts of a lease sale and the harm it could cause beluga whales. There are 331 belugas in Cook Inlet, an increases from the 279 whales counted in 2018, but down from the 1,300 believed to have been in the inlet in 1979.

Gleason suspended the single lease acquired by Hilcorp, which was the only bidder in 2022. Her adverse ruling against Alaska’s economy is in line with most of her past rulings.

“Another case of an activist judge putting their ideology ahead of sound (Congressionally-mandated) policy strikes once again! November – and the ability for a new President to start replacing retiring judges with ones who want to follow the law – can’t come soon enough,” said Rick Whitbeck, Alaska director for Power the Future.

Gleason is the chief judge on the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, and the only judge, as the other two seats are vacant. An appointee of President Barack Obama, she joined the court on Jan. 4, 2012.

In 2021, Alaska Gleason overturned the approval of ConocoPhillips’ Willow project in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska, a decision that was later reversed by higher courts.