A federal judge has ruled that the US Department of the Interior failed to obtain a required court order before canceling oil and gas leases held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Judge Sharon Gleason’s decision represents a massive victory for AIDEA, which has been fighting to overturn the Biden 2023 lease cancellations. AIDEA is a stand-alone state agency dedicated to economic growth.
The case stems from the Biden Administration’s decision to illegally suspend and ultimately cancel AIDEA’s leases, citing legal deficiencies in the original environmental impact statement conducted under the Trump Administration.
In 2017, Congress enacted, and President Trump signed, the “Tax Cut and Jobs Act,” which made several provisions related to ANWR, including:
- Removing all discretion and requiring the Secretary of the Department of the Interior to “establish and administer a competitive oil and gas program for the “leasing, development, production, and transportation of oil and gas” in the 1002 area.
- Directed the Bureau of Land Management to hold two competitive oil and gas lease sales in the coastal plain (approximately 1.56 million acres) of ANWR. Each sale must offer at least 400,000 acres for a total minimum of 800,000 acres, or roughly 51% of the total coastal plain. Removing all discretion and requiring the Secretary to conduct not fewer than two valid lease sales of at least 400,000 acres each, with the most prospective areas of ANWR included in each lease sale.
- Inclusion of up to 2,000 surface acres of Federal land to be covered by production and support facilities for the oil and gas industry.
The leases, which covered 365,775 acres in ANWR’s Coastal Plain, were put out to bid in 2020 and AIDEA was awarded seven leases in January 2021 following the congressional mandate. When Biden took over the White House, his administration simply pulled back the legally awarded leases, using the excuse that the environmental work wasn’t good enough.
AIDEA filed suit in October 2023, arguing that the Biden Administration lacked the authority to unilaterally cancel the leases without a judicial order. The agency contended that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act required Interior to follow regulations under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, which mandates court approval for the cancellation of producing or potentially valuable oil and gas leases.
Gleason, who usually rules against oil interests, sided with AIDEA’s interpretation, stating that the NPRPA’s judicial cancellation requirement applied to the ANWR leases. The court found that the Coastal Plain of ANWR is “known to contain valuable deposits of oil and gas,” citing federal environmental impact statements from both 2019 and 2024.
The ruling has implications for future oil and gas development in ANWR. While the Biden administration sought to curtail fossil fuel development, even in the area of ANWR set aside for oil and gas, Alaska state officials and industry groups held that the leases are essential for economic growth and energy security.
Interior has not yet announced whether it will appeal the ruling of the Alaska district judge, but the Biden Administration is no longer in charge of that decision. If the ruling stands, AIDEA may become a big player in the revival of efforts to conduct oil and gas exploration in ANWR’s Coastal Plain.
That’s good news.