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Preliminary injunction on NPR-A denied Suit by Sovereign Inupiat et al against Department of the Interior over approval of ConocoPhillips' 2026 winter exploration program Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Judge Sharon Gleason of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska has denied a motion for a preliminary injunction by plaintiffs suing U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum over the Bureau of Land Management's approval of a request by ConocoPhillips for approval of winter exploration work in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The 2026 winter exploration program covers four exploration wells and a seismic program within NPR-A including work within the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area.
Plaintiffs -- Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic, Center for Biological Diversity and the Wilderness Society -- filed a lawsuit Dec. 11, 2025, and a motion for a preliminary injunction the same day, alleging that measures BLM approved to mitigate impacts on vegetation are ineffective, violating the National Petroleum Reserves Production Act's requirement of adequate mitigation and maximum protection.
Final EA At issue is the 2026 winter exploration program, for which BLM issued a final environmental assessment, EA, Nov. 26 along with a record of decision approving the winter program.
The EA includes mitigation measures -- required operating procedures or ROPs -- previously adopted in the 2022 Integrated Activity Plan, IAP, governing NPR-A operations.
One ROP in the 2022 IAP, C-2, included a requirement that frost and snow cover be at sufficient depths to protect the tundra before ground operations can take place.
The Dec. 11 lawsuit and motion for preliminary injunction challenge the November record of decision, alleging its measures to mitigate impacts on tundra are ineffective, thereby violating a directive in the NPRPA requiring adequate mitigation and maximum protection.
2025 IAP BLM issued a 2025 Integrated Activity Plan Dec. 11, including a revised ROP C-2(a), requiring that soils be frozen to 23 degrees F or lower at a depth of 12 inches and that there are 6 inches of snow cover, before off-road travel is allowed.
Provisions of ROP C-2(c), (e) and (f) require that off-road travel generally be conducted with low-ground pressure vehicles unless otherwise approved by the BLM authorizing officer, prohibiting bulldozing of tundra mat and vegetation and requiring that ice roads be located to avoid the most sensitive tundra types. ROP C-2 (d) requires vehicles to be selected and operated in a manner eliminating direct impacts on tundra, with heavy equipment not allowed on the tundra until requirements of ROP C-2(a) are met -- frozen soil and snow cover depth.
On Dec. 11 BLM issued a revised EA to conform with the 2025 IAP and reissued its record of decision authorizing the 2026 winter program. A new FONNSI, finding of no new significant impact, was also issued.
Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on Dec. 29, reflecting the December 2025 IAP, EA and record of decision, with the amended complaint recognizing that some of the implementing regulations regarding NPR-A on which plaintiffs rely were rescinded between the November and December approvals of the 2026 winter program.
Denial In denying the plaintiffs' request for an injunction, Gleason said plaintiffs failed to show "that they have a fair chance of success on the merits regarding their claim that BLM's chosen mitigation measures for the 2026 Winter Exploration Program, and particularly ROP C-2, are arbitrary and in violation of the NPRPA."
The act contains provisions to protect surface resources while petroleum resources are developed in the NPR-A, Gleason said, noting that while the act provides for competitive leasing it also specifies "conditions, restrictions, and prohibitions as the Secretary deems necessary or appropriate to mitigate reasonably foreseeable and significantly adverse effects on the surface resources of the" NPR-A.
Unless those measures are arbitrary, courts have less power to specify measures and must give deference to the agency's mitigation measures, she said.
Plaintiffs argue that a 6-inch snow depth was arbitrary because evidence available to the agency showed ROP C-2 would not be effective, but, Gleason said, "The NPRPA does not require BLM to prevent all impacts to surface resources in the TLSA (Teshekpuk Lake Special Area) or elsewhere in the NPR-A," but can satisfy the act's maximum-protective direction with mitigation measures deemed necessary or appropriate by the Secretary of the Interior.
"Here, BLM conducted a reasonably thorough analysis of the impacts of the Winter Program on tundra in the project area on various types of vegetation," Gleason said, and concluded minor impacts to vegetation would be expected and would be minimized through mitigation measures.
"ROP C-2, the measure on which Plaintiffs hang their claim for a preliminary injunction, not only prohibits off-road travel when the soil is insufficiently frozen and snow depth is on average less than 6 inches, but also requires that off-road travel generally use low-ground-pressure vehicles, prohibits bulldozing tundra mat and vegetation to construct trails or seismic lines, and requires that vehicles be selected and operated so as to eliminate direct impact on the tundra."
Considering directives of the act and the record in the case, and deference owned BLM in selecting necessary or appropriate mitigation measures, "the Court finds that Plaintiffs have not shown that they have a fair chance of success on the merits regarding their claim that BLM's chosen mitigation measures for the 2026 Winter Exploration Program, and particularly ROP C-2, are arbitrary and in violation of the NPRPA," Gleason said.
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