Kempthorne

Since the administration of President Warren G. Harding, the United States has looked to the petroleum and natural gas resources underlying the wilderness of Northern Alaska, but development has come slowly. The frigid region is far reaching and so is the range of wildlife that inhabits it.

The government now proposes to lease vast reaches of the northernmost part of the state, known as the Northwest Planning Area (“NWPA”). In this litigation, a group of environmental plaintiffs have challenged the adequacy of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (“FEIS”) prepared by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) for its plan to offer long term oil and gas leases in the NWPA. The leases would enable the oil companies to undertake exploration to determine what sites, if any, can be developed for productive drilling. The National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) requires an assessment of the effects of major federal action on the surrounding environment.

According to plaintiffs, the FEIS issued by the Secretary and BLM to open the NWPA to oil and gas leasing does not comply with the requirements of NEPA. Plaintiffs allege that the Department of Interior and BLM violated NEPA because…