Sierra Club sues state over Beaufort Sea areawide sale

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

The state’s decision to hold an areawide Beaufort Sea oil and gas lease sale has been challenged in Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage by Trustees for Alaska.

The appeal, filed Sept. 1 on behalf of the Alaska chapter of the Sierra Club, the Alaska Wilderness League, Greenpeace Inc. and The Wilderness Society, asserts that, “The lease sale as offered is not in the best interest of the State of Alaska.”

The sale, the first areawide sale for the Beaufort Sea, is scheduled for Oct. 13.

The appeal also asserts that the final Alaska Coastal Management Program consistency determination is not consistent with the coastal management program.

Trustees told the court that the Department of Natural Resources issued a final best interest finding and its final consistency determination on July 15. Trustees said it requested DNR reconsider these decisions on March 1 (sic) and that DNR denied the reconsideration request on Aug. 24.