A financial development arm of Alaska’s state government and Alaska Native corporations are fighting a court order that upheld the Biden administration’s decision to temporarily pause new oil and gas leasing in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
A federal judge ruled last August that the Interior Department had acted within its power when it decided to pause leasing activity while the agency finishes a supplemental National Environmental Policy Act review of the effects of fossil fuel development on the 1.6-million-acre refuge.
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) — along with the North Slope Borough, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Kaktovik Iñupiat Corp. — are calling on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the lower court’s order, as well as a subsequent February decision denying the challengers’ request to alter the ruling.
They had claimed in November that the ruling was moot after Interior canceled AIDEA’s leases last September.
