Conservation organizations and an Iñupiat group filed legal challenges Tuesday to the Trump administration’s renewed push for oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and an upcoming lease sale that they say improperly makes available ecologically sensitive lands that have been long protected.
At least two lawsuits challenging the March 18 lease sale were filed. One, in federal court in Alaska, was brought by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth. Another, in federal court in the District of Columbia, was filed by The Wilderness Society and Grandmothers Growing Goodness, a group seeking to draw attention to the impacts of oil and gas development on Iñupiat communities.
