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Ninth Circuit questions the practical impact of Arctic Alaska leasing appeal
Judges on the Ninth Circuit raised doubts about whether a case brought by Alaska Native and environmental groups still has practical effect after the Trump administration restored the validity of the leases. A separate challenge to the current leasing process is moving ahead in federal court in Alaska.
A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday examined whether an appeal by Alaska Native and environmental groups over oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge still has any real effect, after the Trump administration restored the leases that had been canceled during Joe Biden’s presidency, Courthouse News reported.
During the hearing, federal Judge Michelle Friedland repeatedly asked what difference it would make to vacate or preserve the lower court decision, given that President Donald Trump, after returning to office, reversed the Biden-era cancellation and again opened the refuge land to fossil fuel development.
According to Courthouse News, Friedland pressed the issue of mootness, suggesting that even if the former Interior secretary Deb Haaland’s authority to cancel the leases were upheld, that would not stop the federal government’s current leasing efforts, which are being challenged in a separate case in Alaska federal court.
Brook Brisson, a lawyer for the Gwich’in Steering Committee, argued that preserving the Interior secretary’s authority to cancel invalid leases remains meaningful. In that argument, the same legal framework could also affect other leases, including parcels in Alaska’s western Arctic, the outlet reported.
Representing current Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the department, Justice Department lawyer Thekla Hansen-Young urged the panel to dismiss the appeal. As reported by Courthouse News, she said Interior had effectively undone the 2023 cancellation by issuing a 2025 decision reaffirming the validity of the leases, and pointed to the separate litigation over the active leasing process.
The panel also included Judge Ana de Alba and Judge Robert S. Lasnik, who sat by designation from the Western District of Washington.
The dispute dates back to Trump’s first term. In 2017, Congress directed the Interior Department, through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, to create and administer a competitive oil and gas leasing program in the area.
Before Biden took office in 2021, the state of Alaska, through the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, held seven leases in the refuge. The Biden administration later suspended those leases, and Haaland eventually canceled them altogether, setting off the current lawsuit, according to Courthouse News.
The outlet added that in June the federal government auctioned more than 70,000 acres in the area. The Alaska authority won most of the tracts that received bids, while private company Hex Energy LLC secured the rest. By law, half of the proceeds from those sales go to the state of Alaska.
A separate challenge to the current federal leasing process is scheduled for October in Alaska federal court, Courthouse News reported.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
