Alaska has launched a lawsuit against the US Government over a decision to reject plans to explore for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
State governor Sean Parnell says exploration for the coastal plain of the wildlife area was mandated by a 1980 federal Alaska land conservation act.
But the government’s fish and wildlife service refused to review the plan, citing a legal opinion by the Interior Department issued in 1987 claiming provisions of the law had expired.
Now the state is suing the Obama administration after filing a complaint at federal court in Anchorage over the decision. Parnell claims the U.S. has violated the federal Alaska Interest Lands Conservation Act and seeks a court order forcing the government to review the plan, blocking it from applying the expiration dates it has cited and declaring its refusal to do so as “arbitrary and capricious.”
The refuge, which stretches 200 miles from interior Alaska to the Arctic Ocean, is home to polar bears, caribou, gray wolves and 200 bird species.
About one-quarter of the 40 billion barrels of onshore recoverable oil in the USA are thought to be under the park, according to studies by the US Geological Service.
“It is both disappointing and disturbing that the Obama administration, which claims that it is pursuing an ‘all of the above’ energy policy, is afraid to let the people of the United States learn more about ANWR’s oil and gas resources,” Parnell, a Republican, said in a statement.
“The modern technology that we are seeking to use is responsibly utilized all across the North Slope with extremely limited environmental impact, and would dramatically improve our understanding of ANWR’s resources.”
The state wants to study a portion of the reserve known as Area 1002, which Alaska officials said covers 3,000 square miles and is less than a tenth of the entire Arctic reserve.
Parnell sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in 2013 outlining a plan for a shared $150 million effort. He offered to seek $50 million from state lawmakers, according to the lawsuit.
Alaska’s plan would use advanced three-dimensional seismic imaging to find the “extent and accessibility of the significant oil and gas resources” in the coastal plain of ANWR, Parnell said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service’s regional director rejected the plan without evaluating its compliance with regulations, according to the lawsuit.
The Obama administration opposes drilling in the refuge, which is about the size of South Carolina, and said any exploratory activity, including the seismic work, is prohibited by the 1980 law and would require congressional authorization, Jewell told Parnell in a letter last year.