March 1, 2019: On Thursday, February 28th and Friday, March 1st, the Sierra Club joined two separate lawsuits to oppose continued oil and gas exploration and leasing in the Arctic. In the first filing, the Club joined the Native Village of Nuiqsut and several conservation groups, represented by Earthjustice, to challenge a decision by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to approving ConocoPhillips' winter exploratory drilling program in America’s largest single area of public lands, the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPR-A). The exploration will involve construction of nearly 70 miles of ice roads and up to 24 ice pads, along with the drilling of six new exploratory wells, which would significantly disturb caribou migration and subsistence uses in the Reserve adjacent to the community of Nuiqsut.
The drilling program significantly expands industrial activity in and around the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, set aside by Congress for maximum protection because it includes some of the most important migratory bird habitat in the world and is home to the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd. This herd has long been an important part of culture and economy for the Inupiat people of Nuiqsut. Indigenous subsistence hunting is vital to the village of Nuiqsut, where for generations hunters have tracked and hunted caribou, which used to range by the thousands in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area.
Additionally, the Club and other leading environmental groups, represented by Trustees for Alaska, sued the federal government to prevent additional oil and gas leasing in the NPR-A. In addition to the important environmental and cultural resources described above, the 23-million-acre NPR-A provides habitat for polar bears, caribou, fish, millions of migratory birds, wolves, and musk oxen, among other species. The Club’s second lawsuit claims that the Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to evaluate site-specific impacts of oil and gas development prior to leasing parcels covering tens of thousands of acres. The Club and our allies are also currently challenging the Bureau's previous lease sale from 2017. These lease sales are part of the Trump Administration's goal of "jump starting" energy production in the Reserve, a reversal from Obama-era protections.