Environmental groups sued the Interior Department Tuesday over the Interior Department’s decision to undo development protections for more than 2 million acres of public land in Alaska.
Close to a dozen environmental groups sued Interior over the move to open up the areas on either side of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System that have been in protected status since the 1970s. State leaders for years have argued those lands should be used for energy and mining development.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, alleges that Interior’s decision to rescind protections on about 2.1 million acres in Alaska violated federal law and asks the court to prevent the department from opening the area to development.
The corridor follows the Alaska pipeline and the Dalton Highway and connects the Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge to the south to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the north. The Gates of the Arctic National Park lies in between.
