Description: Challenge to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s 2023 approval of the Willow Master Development Plan in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
-
Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic v. Bureau of Land Management
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 04/28/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Motion to voluntarily dismiss appeal filed by Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic et al. Plaintiffs Withdrew Appeals of Denial of Preliminary Injunction in Willow Project Challenges. On April 28, the plaintiffs requested voluntary dismissal of their appeals of the denial of the injunction. The plaintiffs said they had conferred with the proponent of the project and learned that winter construction activities would be completed the week of May 1 and that major construction activities would not resume until the winter freeze-up in late 2023, allowing the plaintiffs to seek a briefing schedule that would make it possible for the district court to resolve the case before commencement of further ground-disturbing activities. 04/28/2023 Motion to Dismiss Download Motion to voluntarily dismiss appeal filed by Center for Biological Diversity et al. 04/19/2023 Order Download Motions for injunctive relief pending appeal denied. On April 19, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied emergency motions for an injunction pending appeal of the denial of a preliminary injunction to block work on the Willow Project, an oil and gas development project in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. 04/14/2023 Amicus Brief Download Amicus curiae brief filed by Alaska congressional delegation and Alaska State Legislature in support of opposition to emergency motion. 04/14/2023 Reply Download Reply filed by Center for Biological Diversity et al. in support of emergency motion. 04/14/2023 Reply Download Reply filed in support of emergency motion by Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic et al. 04/13/2023 Opposition Download Opposition filed by State of Alaska to plaintiffs' motion for injunction pending appeal. 04/13/2023 Opposition Download Opposition filed by Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to appellants' motions for preliminary injunction. 04/13/2023 Opposition Download Opposition filed by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. to motions for injunction pending appeal. 04/13/2023 Opposition Download Opposition filed by federal defendants to plaintiffs' motions for injunction pending appeal. 04/13/2023 Opposition Download Opposition filed by Kuukpik Corporation to appellants' motions for injunction pending appeal. 04/13/2023 Opposition Download Response filed by North Slope Borough in opposition to motions for injunction pending appeal. 04/06/2023 Motion Download Emergency motion filed by Center for Biological Diversity et al. 04/05/2023 Motion Download Emergency motion filed by Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic. -
Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic v. Bureau of Land Management
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 04/04/2023 Motion Download Motion filed by plaintiffs for injunction pending appeal. 04/03/2023 Order Download Motions for preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining order denied. Alaska Federal Court Denied Preliminary Injunction in Two Cases Challenging Willow Project. On April 3, 2023, the court denied motions for preliminary injunctions barring construction activities planned for winter 2023. Plaintiffs appealed the denial of the preliminary injunction and filed a motion in the district court for an injunction on construction activities for 14 days while they seek relief from the Ninth Circuit. In its order denying the plaintiffs’ requests for a preliminary injunction, the district court found that the plaintiffs’ concerns regarding the long-term negative impacts of oil and gas extraction, including impact on global climate change, were not relevant to consideration of the preliminary injunction motions because the winter 2023 construction activities would not include extraction. The court found that the plaintiffs’ other allegations of harm did not establish a likelihood of irreparable harm. The court also weighed environmental harm from the winter construction activities against economic damages, benefits to most subsistence users, and state and federal legislative statements that the Willow Project was in the public interest, and found that the balance of the equities and public interest “tip sharply against preliminary injunctive relief.” The court did not reach the issue of whether the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits. 03/24/2023 Opposition Download Opposition filed by State of Alaska to motions for preliminary injunctions and motion for temporary restraining order. 03/24/2023 Order Download State of Alaska's motion to intervene granted. 03/23/2023 Motion to Intervene Download Memorandum filed by State of Alaska in support of motion to intervene. 03/21/2023 Order Download Kuukpik Corporation's motion to intervene granted. 03/14/2023 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Two lawsuits were filed in the federal district court for the District of Alaska challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) approval of the Willow Master Development Plan (Willow Project) in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The Willow Project consists of three drilling sites and related support infrastructure, including a processing facility, airstrip, operations center, gravel mine, gravel roads, and pipelines. BLM issued a new record of decision authorizing the project on March 13, 2023 after preparing a supplemental EIS on remand from a 2021 district court decision that found shortcomings in BLM’s 2020 review of the project, including failure to adequately assess downstream greenhouse gas emissions from foreign oil consumption. The plaintiffs in one lawsuit are six conservation groups led by Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic. They assert claims under NEPA, the National Petroleum Reserves Production Act (NPRPA), the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and the Endangered Species Act. They assert, among other things, that BLM failed to consider a reasonable range of alternatives in the supplemental EIS, including alternatives that would meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions and climate impacts. They also assert that BLM failed to take a hard look at the Willow Project’s potential direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts, including impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. In addition, the complaint asserts that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to address impacts to polar bears as a result of greenhouse gas emissions produced from the Willow Project. 03/14/2023 Motion to Intervene Download Unopposed motion to intervene filed by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. -
Center for Biological Diversity v. Bureau of Land Management
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 03/14/2023 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Two lawsuits were filed in the federal district court for the District of Alaska challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) approval of the Willow Master Development Plan (Willow Project) in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The Willow Project consists of three drilling sites and related support infrastructure, including a processing facility, airstrip, operations center, gravel mine, gravel roads, and pipelines. BLM issued a new record of decision authorizing the project on March 13, 2023 after preparing a supplemental EIS on remand from a 2021 district court decision that found shortcomings in BLM’s 2020 review of the project, including failure to adequately assess downstream greenhouse gas emissions from foreign oil consumption. The plaintiffs in the second case are five environmental organizations led by Center for Biological Diversity. They assert claims under NEPA, NPRPA, and the Endangered Species Act. Under NEPA, they assert a failure to consider an adequate range of alternatives, including a failure to assess “any alternatives that meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” The complaint also asserts that the supplemental EIS failed to assess the Willow Project’s “full climate consequences” by failing to assess downstream greenhouse gas emissions from reasonably foreseeable future oil development that the project will facilitate. Under the Endangered Species Act, the plaintiffs allege that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service failed to consider how increased greenhouse gas emissions from the project may affect survival and recovery of ice-dependent species (i.e., polar bears, Arctic ringed seals, and bearded seals).