A federal lawsuit filed Thursday challenges an oil company’s new permit to explore for oil in a remote region of the Arctic in Alaska, arguing that such activity threatens the tundra’s ecosystem and the caribou herds that Native communities rely on for sustenance.
Last month, the Bureau of Land Management approved the permit for ConocoPhillips to work in the National Petroleum Reserve, a vast expanse on Alaska’s North Slope. The lawsuit alleges that the agency fast-tracked its environmental assessment and failed to account for the harms the work could cause, such as disrupting the migration of the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, which gives birth and raises calves in the area.
Earthjustice, an environmental law group that filed the lawsuit, asked the court to revoke the permit. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of two national nonprofit organizations, The Wilderness Society and the Center for Biological Diversity, and Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, an Alaska Native-led group.
Spanning 23 million acres, the National Petroleum Reserve is the largest tract of public land in the United States. The land remains largely undeveloped, though ConocoPhillips, the largest oil producer in Alaska, has some operations near its northeast corner. Those include the company’s $8 billion Willow project, which was approved by the Biden administration and remains under construction. Environmentalists opposed that project.
The new activity would reach deeper into the reserve, pushing south and west. The lawsuit argues that those areas are ecologically fragile and that the government is required by law to afford them maximum protection. The work, set to take place during the winter months, would involve four exploratory wells and heavy-duty vehicles that send seismic waves into the ground to detect oil, according to the permit applications.
The lawsuit named the Interior Department — including its secretary, Doug Burgum — and the Bureau of Land Management, an agency under its umbrella, and several officials there. The Interior Department declined to comment, citing a policy of not discussing pending litigation.
Nauri Simmonds, the executive director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, noted the important role that oil development plays in the local economy. But she said that there was ongoing tension between economic opportunity and the erosion of traditional ways of life, and that local villages bear the direct health and environmental effects of oil drilling.
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She pointed to the village of Nuiqsut, at the edge of the reserve and surrounded by oil fields, where she lived as a child and still has family. “To be able to hunt caribou has become harder and harder because they’re moving farther and farther away because of the infrastructure that’s being built,” she said.
Ian Dooley, an attorney with Earthjustice who is based in Anchorage, said that new oil development brought global climate implications. The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet, contributing to rising sea levels. The thawing of permafrost, the frozen soil that covers much of the Arctic, is also releasing more greenhouse gases, which cause global warming.
“It’s this area of highly unique and sensitive ecological value and home to Inupiat people that have lived there for centuries, just a really pristine and essential place for a number of reasons,” he said of the reserve.
The lawsuit cited a report that was entered into the administrative record by Matt Nolan, a geophysicist in Fairbanks, showing how seismic operations conducted during winter can result in damage to vegetation and soil for decades.
The filing also takes issue with the time allowed for public comments on the bureau’s draft environmental assessment, which was released on Nov. 10. No public hearings were held before the comment period ended.
Dennis Nuss, a spokesman for ConocoPhillips, said that the company remained confident in the “robustness” of its plan and looked forward to completing the work during the winter exploration season.
“These actions by the same groups that have historically used legal maneuvers to delay exploration and development in the Petroleum Reserve jeopardize hundreds of local jobs and adds unnecessary risk to investment in Alaska,” he said.
Earthjustice said it would request a preliminary injunction in a separate filing on Thursday.
Karen Zraick covers legal affairs for the Climate desk and the courtroom clashes playing out over climate and environmental policy.
The post Lawsuit Seeks to Stop Oil Exploration in Remote Areas of the Arctic appeared first on New York Times.
