American Petroleum Institute CEO Mike Sommers talks about the nation’s energy independence and the lawsuit against President Biden’s EV mandate.
Alaska’s largest oil companies have filed a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior, asking a judge to throw out the new rules. Imposed by the Biden Administration They claim it will “disrupt and thwart oil production” across millions of acres of protected Alaskan land.
ConocoPhillips Alaska’s recent lawsuit in U.S. District Court comes just months after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) enacted regulations regarding the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The federal agency describes the reserve as “a vast area of approximately 23 million acres on the North Slope of Alaska” that was set aside by President Harding in 1923 as “an emergency petroleum supply for the United States Navy” before transferring management of it to the BLM some 50 years later.
“The BLM has issued a final rule that significantly and fundamentally changes the priorities, substantive standards, and processes for the management and operation of the petroleum reserves,” ConocoPhillips argues in its lawsuit.
Court Blocks Biden Administration’s Ban on New LNG Exports
“In promulgating the rule, the BLM ignored and attempted to circumvent Congress’ clear mandate, shifting the priority of management of the Petroleum Reserve from rapid leasing and production to meet the Nation’s energy needs to ‘maximum protection’ of surface values and prohibiting development activities,” the lawsuit states. “The BLM ignored Congress’ direction, made the unilateral policy choice that 13 million acres of the Petroleum Reserve were ‘too special’ for oil and gas development and should instead be protected as a wilderness preserve, and gave itself unlimited authority to expand those ‘too special’ 13 million acres at will.”
Alaska’s vast national oil reserves are at the center of the litigation. (U.S. Department of the Interior)
“Among other changes, the BLM has given itself unfettered discretion to preclude oil-related activity in ‘special areas’ that currently contain more than half of the oil reserves, and to expand (but not shrink) these special areas indefinitely,” the complaint states. “Outside of these special areas, the BLM has given itself unfettered discretion to delay or deny oil and gas activity for any reason it sees fit, including citing undefined ‘uncertainties.'”
ConocoPhillips said in the lawsuit: Alaska’s largest oil producer And companies that hold “1.8 million acres of Alaska state and federal leased land, including 1 million net acres undeveloped as of the end of 2023” are now asking a judge to repeal the rule entirely.
| Ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Police Officer | ConocoPhillips | 112.23 | -0.32 | -0.28% |
“Under the Naval Petroleum Reserve and Production Act of 1976 (NPRPA) as amended, Congress directed the BLM to balance oil and gas development with the management and protection of significant resource values in places known as special areas and to mitigate the impacts of oil and gas activities on surface resources throughout the refuge,” the BLM said in April.
Biden Administration Announces Tax Credit to Raise Clean Energy Wages
ConocoPhillips headquarters in Houston in June as the oil producer asks a judge to throw out new Biden administration restrictions on drilling in northern Alaska. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Getty Images)
The department said the rule “updates an existing regulatory framework put in place more than 40 years ago and will enable the BLM to more effectively respond to changing conditions in the NPR-A while balancing oil and gas development with the management and protection of surface values, including wildlife habitat essential to survival.”
The BLM said the regulation “protects 13.3 million acres of land in existing special areas and restricts future oil and gas leasing and industrial development in Lake Teshekpuk, Utukok Plateau, Colville River, Kasegalk Lagoon, and Peard Bay special areas, which are collectively known as globally important, intact habitat for wildlife, including grizzly and polar bears, caribou, and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds,” and “codifies an existing prohibition on new leasing on 10.6 million acres, more than 40 percent of the NPR-A.”
But in 1980, “Congress repurposed the petroleum reserve to meet the nation’s oil and gas needs during the national energy crisis” and “began authorizing privately funded exploration, development, and production in the reserve,” according to ConocoPhillips’ lawsuit.
Map showing location of National Petroleum Reserves in Alaska. The yellow areas are administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
For more information on FOX Business, click here
“These natural wonders need our protection,” President Biden said in April, “and I am proud that my Administration is taking action to protect more than 13 million acres of land in the Western Arctic and honor the culture, history and timeless wisdom of the Alaska Native people who have lived and stewarded this land since time immemorial.”
