State’s industrial development corporation and three Alaska Native organizations file suit over Interior Department block on ANWR exploration

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, the state’s development finance corporation, has filed a new challenge to the U.S. Interior Department’s suspension of leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR, and the agency’s moratorium on lease activities.

An appeal was filed with the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, AIDEA announced April 15. It was joined in the action by the North Slope Borough, the regional municipal government, and two influential Alaska Native corporations, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Kaktovik Inupiat Corp.

The plaintiffs are contesting the Interior Department’s cancellation of leases won by AIDEA in a federal lease sale in ANWR held under the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The act, passed under the administration of former president Donald Trump, requires two lease sales to be held in the so-called “1002” area of ANWR, a coastal plain area considered to have prime potential for oil discoveries.

When he took office, current President Joe Biden began an evaluation of the planning for the first lease sale and, finding deficiencies, canceled the lease won by AIDEA. AIDEA is contesting the cancellation.

Meanwhile, the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act requires a second lease sale scheduled dfor later this year. While contesting the government’s action in cancelling its leases from the fist lease sale AIDEA has also said it intends to bid again for leases when the second sale is held. The Interior Department is now completing a revised environmental assessment of leasing in the refuge.

Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and Kaktovik Inupiat Corp. have a stake in this issue because they own lands with mineral rights near the areas leased to the state authority. The same federal policies that blocked AIDEA from exploring leases it bid on also affect the two Native corporations in exploring a 91,000 acre block of land in the coastal plain.

Alaska’s U.S. senators, who helped steer the ANWR provisions though Congress in the Jobs Act, heartily supported the appeals.

Alaska’s U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, "As the lead author of Title II of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which mandated this program and at least two lease sales by the end of this year, I know as well as anyone that the Department of the Interior’s recent actions violate the law. My team and I invested countless hours in crafting this legislation, ensuring it balanced economic development with environmental stewardship. It's crucial that the clear intent and plain direction of this law, to responsibly harness the energy potential of the 1002 Area for the benefit of Alaskans and the nation, are fully realized.”

Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan had this to say: “The cancellation of lawfully-issued ANWR leases was a flagrant violation of the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act and a clear demonstration of the Biden administration’s utter disregard for the voices of Alaskans—most importantly, the Alaska Native people of the North Slope.”