Voluntary NPR-A IAP litigation dismissal

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

On Sept. 22 U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason accepted a joint motion from plaintiffs and defendants for dismissal of a suit filed in August 2020 challenging the U.S. Department of the Interior’s 2020 Integrated Activity Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

The 2020 IAP, issued under the Trump Administration, was challenged by environmental groups.

The District Court granted requests from the Department of the Interior under the new administration to stay the two court cases, filed by different environmental groups, while the new federal administration reviewed the 2020 IAP. In September 2021 the Biden administration announced a re-evaluation of the NPR-A IPA and its associated EIS.

In January 2022, BLM said it was proposing a return to the previous, 2013 IAP for NPR-A, reflecting the priority of the Biden-Harris administration “of reviewing existing oil and gas programs to ensure balance on America’s public lands and waters to benefit current and future generations.”

That decision elicited a storm of protest from groups within Alaska, including the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and the North Slope Borough, which said in a joint statement in January that they “are united in opposition” to BLM’s announcement “fundamentally” abandoning the 2020 IAP in favor of that from 2013.

The state had intervened in the District Court cases and Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the action by BLM “makes clear the Federal government intends another unwarranted hit to Alaska and the nation.”

Members of the state’s congressional delegation, at that time all Republicans, likewise condemned the decision.

The joint motion for dismissal, filed Sept. 21, said an errata to the 2020 IPA FEIS, completed Sept. 20 by BLM, “deletes language from the 2020 IAP FEIS representing that it would fulfill NEPA requirements for lease sales through at least December 2039 and potentially thereafter. The errata clarifies that the 2020 IAP FEIS is programmatic and is not intended to, by itself and without further NEPA analysis, fulfill NEPA requirements for future lease sales.”

Plaintiffs and federal defendants jointly asked the court to dismiss the case with prejudice with each to side to bear its own costs and attorneys’ fees. They further said that intervenor-defendant the state of Alaska “believes that the IAP/EIS was adequate in its analysis of oil and gas leasing, and supports compliance with NEPA for any future lease sales in the most targeted and expeditious manner possible.”

In a Sept. 22 decision, Gleason granted the motion.

So, what about an NPR-A lease sale?

In response to a question about when a lease sale could occur, a BLM spokesperson told PN in April that once the litigation was resolved, the first step in the leasing process would be for BLM to publish a call for nominations in the Federal Register.