Sukakpuk Mountain, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the Dalton Highway seen on August 6, 2008. The mountain is located along the northern end of a corridor that was protected under public land orders dating back to the 1970s. The orders were rescinded by the Trump administration, allowing the state to select land and allow development in the corridor. (Photo: Craig McCaa/US Bureau of Land Management)
Ten conservation groups are suing the Trump administration over its decision to remove decades-old protections from 2.1 million acres of federal land in interior Alaska.
The lawsuitfiled Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, is directed to the Department of the Interior action to invalidate public land orders from the early 1970s that protected part of the corridor around an 800-mile-long oil pipeline through Alaska.
Faculty decision, finalized On February 25, it allows the state government to take over the land and make it available for development. Potential uses for the land include construction of the controversial Ambler Access project, a proposed 330-kilometer road from the foothills of the Brooks Range to an isolated mining district in northwest Alaska, and a long-proposed mega-pipeline project that would transport natural gas from the North Slope.
The lawsuit alleges that the Department of the Interior violated several regulations by failing to hold any public hearings in affected communities, failing to provide justification for removing long-established protections from “iconic areas of northern Alaska,” and other violations.
The laws cited in the lawsuit are the Alaska Native Claims Resolution Act, the Alaska National Interest Lands Protection Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.
The 2.1 million-acre corridor and the areas around it are “extremely important to Alaska’s wildlife and people,” the lawsuit states. The lawsuit says it raises 25 different species of fish, including salmon, and is a habitat for migratory birds, moose, caribou and many other species, making it vital to provide a livelihood for food gatherers and recreational visitors.
In a statement, the plaintiffs pointed to the development of mining as a particular threat to natural resources and the people who depend on them.
“The Trump administration has cited flimsy and nonsensical ‘putting America first’ reasons in an attempt to justify transferring public lands from federal management to the benefit of billionaires,” said Bridget Psarianos, senior attorney at Trustees for Alaska, a nonprofit environmental law firm representing the plaintiffs.
“The Trump administration’s destructive obsession with giving away our public lands to mining companies has forced us to go to court,” Matt Jackson, senior manager of The Wilderness Society in Alaska, said in a statement.
The administration’s action poses a particular risk because the unprotected corridor lies between the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the plaintiffs say.
Rolling back half a century of protections is “an egregious effort to avoid national environmental regulations that would allow the construction of a road that will enrich foreign mining companies and harm wilderness areas, Alaska Native communities and America’s conservation heritage,” Jim Adams, senior director of the Alaska National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. “Ending these public land procurements also exposes the entire eastern portion of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve to state management practices along its border that devalue the park’s wildlife and the needs of rural residents.”
The Department of the Interior declined to comment on the lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Promoting the “Energy Domination” program.
When he announced the action on Feb. 20, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said it would aid achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of “unlocking the opportunity for American energy dominance.”
“By making these lands available, we are enabling Alaska to chart its own course and develop the energy, minerals and infrastructure that enhance America’s security and prosperity,” Burgum said in a statement statement Then.
At the time, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the all-Republican congressional delegation viewed the decision as vital to the state’s resource-based economy.
“Alaska has the right to produce, and Alaska has the right to use our God-given resources,” said U.S. Representative Nick Begich. R-Alaska, he said in the pond statement issued by the delegation.
However, the Tanana General Conference, an organization of Interior Alaska tribes that is not included in the latest lawsuit, condemned the administration’s actions.
The decision was made without necessary tribal consultations and could strip federal subsistence harvesting protections of vital food gathering sites, the TCC said in its speech. statement.
“This decision opens the door to development that puts our lands, animals, waters and livelihoods at real risk,” TCC president and CEO Brian Ridley said in a statement. “For our communities, these are not distant acres on a map. These are places where our families hunt, fish and gather to feed our people. Protecting these resources is critical to our food security, our culture and our future.”
This story was originally produced by Alaska Lighthousewhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes the Ohio Capital Journal and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
