NPR-A right of way cancellation dispute
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NPR-A right of way cancellation dispute
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Nuiqsut Trilateral challenges DOI in District Court over letter annulling ROW for protecting part of Teshekpuk Lake special area
ALAN BAILEY for Petroleum News
On Jan. 28 Nuiqsut Trilateral Inc. filed a lawsuit in the federal District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the Dec. 19 cancellation by the Department of the Interior of a right of way in the Teshekpuk Lake special area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Interior, under the Biden administration, had issued the right of way in December 2024. The right of way enabled the Nuiqsut community to, in effect, regulate oil and gas exploration and development activities in the right of way during the development of ConocoPhillips' Willow oil field.
Nuiqsut Trilateral is a non-profit corporation formed by the Native Village of Nuiqsut, Kuukpik Corp. and the City of Nuiqsut. Nuiqsut is located close to the Willow development. The Teshekpuk Lake special area is an area of high environmental sensitivity and is particularly associated with the Teshekpuk caribou herd. Villagers from Nuiqsut depend on subsistence resources from the region. The purpose of the right of way was to ensure that subsistence activities and the caribou herd are not adversely impacted by the Willow development.
The Willow field has one planned well pad in the special area, but not in the designated right of way.
Cancellation letter from Interior In a letter to Nuiqsut Trilateral canceling the right of way, Interior had argued that a right of way cannot be authorized for what amounts to a non-use purpose, an intention to prohibit or hinder oil and gas activities. Nor can the Bureau of Land Management delegate to a third party the right to prohibit core activities related to the NPR-A's dominant use involving oil and gas leasing and activities, the letter said. The agency argued that the right of way was at odds with the stated purpose of the National Petroleum Reserves Production Act, the federal statute governing the regulation of the reserve -- in effect, the right of way delegated oversight of this portion of the NPR-A from the Bureau of Land Management to Nuiqsut Trilateral.
"While granting any conservation right-of-way is unlikely to be lawful under the NPRPA for any amount of acres in this petroleum reserve, doing so across a surface area larger than the state of Rhode Island with a subsurface that is highly prospective for oil and gas development is clearly unlawful," the letter said.
The letter commented that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress had directed BLM to conduct NPR-A oil and gas lease sales under the terms of the 2020 integrated activity plan for the reserve. This plan made most of the Teshekpuk Lake area available for oil and gas leasing, the letter said.
The Nuiqsut Trilateral response In its court filing Nuiqsut Trilateral wrote that the use of the land within the right of way for subsistence activities is a valid land use, and not non-use. Moreover, the notification from BLM regarding the right-of-way cancellation did not "explain why a right-of-way designed to facilitate the Willow project was one that hindered the Willow project," the filing said. The right-of-way had been granted in order to fulfill BLM obligations to provide protection to the lake, a buffer along its shores and caribou movement corridors while also allowing several Willow drilling sites to progress, Nuiqsut Trilateral told the court.
The 2020 District Court ruling In a 2020 ruling by the federal District Court in Alaska, the court had required the record of decision for the Willow development to afford maximum protection to surface values in the Teshekpuk Lake area -- the granting of the right of way enabled compliance with the court order, Nuiqsut Trilateral wrote.
And, under the terms of the right of way, Nuiqsut Trilateral could waive prohibitions on oil and gas activities if the organization determined that the benefits from those activities outweighed any impact on the caribou herd and were in the best interests of the community, Nuiqsut Trilateral wrote.
The cancellation of the right of way removes protections for the caribou herd that were required under BLM's record of decision approving the Willow development. Moreover, Nuiqsut Trilateral has a property right to the right of way, and that right may not be removed without due process, the organization told the court.
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