Biden order impacts Alaska court cases

Alan Bailey

for Petroleum News

In his executive order, issued Jan. 20, addressing public health, the environment and climate change, President Joe Biden reinstated President Barack Obama’s 2016 withdrawal of large areas of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas from future oil and gas leasing. Biden’s move came in response to an April 2017 executive order by President Trump, cancelling Obama’s order. Another twist in this particular saga revolves around an appeal through the courts by a group of environmental organizations, challenging the validity of Trump’s order.

The Arctic offshore land withdrawal encompassed the entire Chukchi and Beaufort seas, apart from a 2.8 million acre strip of the Beaufort Sea with relatively high oil and gas potential, offshore the coastline between Smith Bay and the western side of Camden Bay.

In March 2019, in response to an appeal from environmentalists, the federal District Court in Alaska found that Trump’s order had been illegal. The Trump administration subsequently appealed the District Court decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit - the 9th Circuit has yet to rule in the case. However, on Jan. 22 the appellees in the case alerted the court to the fact that President Biden had re-instated the Obama offshore withdrawals. The court has subsequently asked participants in the case to file briefs commenting on the impact of Biden’s order, but has yet to rule on how the order impacts the case.

A somewhat similar situation has arisen in a series of District Court cases challenging the holding of oil and gas lease sales in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Attorneys for the federal government have notified the court that President Biden’s Jan. 20 order placed a temporary moratorium on the ANWR leasing program. The first ANWR lease sale was held on Jan. 6.

- ALAN BAILEY