Federal government appeals decision that blocked oil drilling in Alaska caribou protection area

One caribou in the Teshekpuk herd approaches another on June 27, 2014. The herd, which spends the entire year on the North Slope, uses land adjacent to Teshekpuk Lake. (Bob Wick/U.S. Bureau of Land Management)

By James Brooks

Alaska Beacon

The federal government is continuing to push for oil drilling in a North Slope conservation area intended to protect caribou.

Last month, the U.S. Department of the Interior asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason that blocked oil and gas lease sales in part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska near Teshekpuk Lake.

Gleason’s ruling came a day before a scheduled lease sale in the reserve, and some parcels affected by her decision did go out to bid.

More than 1 million acres near the lake had been protected under a conservation agreement with a Native coalition known as Nuiqsut Trilateral. The Trump administration canceled the agreement in December, ahead of an oil lease sale in March.

Parties to the agreement sued, saying the cancellation was illegal, and Gleason preliminarily ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, placing the area off limits to oil and gas leasing while the case goes forward.

If successful, the Interior Department appeal would allow leasing to go forward, at least temporarily, while the broader case is argued in court. 

Written arguments have repeatedly been delayed, and the federal government’s opening arguments are now due by July 6, with the last briefs expected in August.

Meanwhile, written arguments in the underlying case are scheduled to be finished by the end of June, with possible oral courtroom arguments to follow at a later date.

• James Brooks Cascade is a longtime Alaska reporter who lives in Juneau. He previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.