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District Court approves expedited briefing schedule in Willow case
Alan Bailey for Petroleum News
The federal District Court in Alaska has agreed to a request for expedited briefing schedules in two parallel court cases challenging the legality of Bureau of Land Management approval of ConocoPhillips’ Willow oilfield development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. In a March 3 court order District Court Judge Sharon Gleason agreed to a schedule proposed by the parties in the cases - the schedule would require the completion of all briefings and responses by June 1.
In an earlier court filing ConocoPhillips had requested an expedited decision by July 1 in the cases, saying that a later decision would likely result in the loss of the off-road construction season for the Willow project in the winter of 2021-22. The company has already had to cancel plans for gravel mining and road construction during this winter’s North Slope off-road season, because of a temporary court injunction against carrying out this work.
Court injunction Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic and several environmental organizations filed one of the cases, while some other environmental organizations filed the other case. Originally Judge Gleason turned down a request for an injunction banning Willow work in the field until the court cases are resolved. However, after the appellees appealed Gleason’s injunction decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Gleason issued an injunction, temporarily banning Willow gravel work pending a 9th Circuit response to the appeal. The 9th Circuit subsequently extended the injunction until the appeal is resolved, a decision that caused ConocoPhillips to cancel its gravel work for this year.
The various parties in the cases have since proposed to the District Court that, in the interests of minimizing litigation around the cases, the court should extend the current injunction to Dec. 1 of this year. If the court agrees to that arrangement, the plaintiffs in the cases will move to dismiss the pending 9th Circuit appeal, the plaintiffs told the District Court. Gleason subsequently approved the proposal and the parties in the cases have requested the 9th Circuit court to dismiss the appeal. Regardless of the injunction, Willow gravel work would presumably not be able to be started until tundra off-road travel is opened for the 2021-22 winter season.
- ALAN BAILEY
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