Judge Rules Biden Admin Unlawfully Canceled Oil, Gas Leases in Alaska Refuge

AIDEA filed the lawsuit against the Biden administration in 2023 after the Department of Interior canceled oil and gas leases it won in January 2021.

The Kaktovik Lagoon and the Brooks Range mountains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Kaktovik, Alaska, on Oct. 15, 2024. Lindsey Wasson/AP Photo

A federal judge in Alaska ruled on Tuesday that the Department of the Interior (DOI) acted unlawfully when it canceled seven oil and gas leases issued for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) because the agency failed to obtain a court order beforehand.

In a 22-page order, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason stated that DOI needed to obtain a court order to cancel the seven leases that had been awarded to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) before the Biden administration took office in 2021.

“There is no reason DOI could not file an action seeking declaratory relief in such circumstances,” Gleason stated. “Accordingly, Federal Defendants’ cancellation of AIDEA’s leases was not in accordance with law because it failed to seek a court order.”

AIDEA filed the lawsuit against the Biden administration in 2023 after DOI canceled oil and gas leases it won in January 2021, during the final days of President Donald Trump’s first term.

After taking office on Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing DOI to review oil and gas leasing in the ANWR, citing “the alleged legal deficiencies underlying the program.” This resulted in the suspension of AIDEA’s leases.

AIDEA filed a lawsuit in November 2021 to challenge the order, but the court dismissed it, ruling that the moratorium’s “temporary duration and limited scope” were legal.

The Biden administration subsequently canceled the leases in 2023 on the basis that the 2021 lease sale was flawed, which prompted AIDEA to file another lawsuit that year.

Gleason, in her recent ruling siding with AIDEA, cited the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provision that authorized leasing in the ANRW.

According to her order, the Tax Act allows DOI to manage the leasing program for the ANRW in a manner similar to the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, which stipulates that leases containing valuable oil or gas deposits can only be canceled by court order.

AIDEA Executive Director Randy Ruaro welcomed the ruling, saying that it showed DOI has no authority to alter federal laws in a way that serves “its boss in the White House.”

“Today’s decision by Judge Gleason proves that federal agencies with a political agenda to shut down Alaska and keep Alaskans from good-paying jobs must still follow the laws set by Congress,” Ruaro said in a March 25 statement.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy also praised the judge for upholding the country’s rule of law.

“Now the leasing program can move forward and could result in more safe, secure energy production right here in Alaska,” Dunleavy said in the statement published by AIDEA.

The Epoch Times reached out to DOI for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on March 20 directed the Bureau of Land Management to “pursue steps to expand opportunities for exploration and development” of oil, gas, and mineral resources across nearly 20 million previously off-limits acres within Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPR) and ANWR.

The move followed Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order directing federal agencies to “expedite the permitting and leasing of energy and natural resource projects in Alaska,” prioritize “development of Alaska’s liquified natural gas (LNG) potential,” and expand fossil fuel development in the 23-million-acre NPR and 19.6-million-acre ANWR.

The sweeping actions by Trump and Burgum, who also chairs the National Energy Dominance Council, rescind “all regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions ... promulgated, issued, or adopted between January 20, 2021, and January 20, 2025,” essentially erasing dozens of actions related to Alaska by Biden and his administration.

Under the executive order and Burgum’s directive, the bureau must now make the entire 1.56-million-acre ANWR coastal plain and 82 percent of NPR available for oil and gas leasing.

John Haughey contributed to this report.