Environmentalists, Natives sue to stop sale

Fourteen conservation and Alaska Native groups sued the federal government Jan. 31 seeking to stop a petroleum lease sale off Alaska’s northwest coast.

The sale would make available for drilling an area nearly the size of Pennsylvania on the outer continental shelf of the Chukchi Sea.

The groups say the Minerals Management Service did not fairly evaluate potential effects on wildlife and the subsistence foods used by Native Alaskans in the region.

Earthjustice attorney Eric Jorgensen says the lawsuit does not seek an injunction to block the sale, scheduled for Feb. 6 in Anchorage.

The groups hope the agency will postpone the sale in the face of the lawsuit and opposition expressed in Congress.

—The Associated Press