JUDGE OKS OIL, GAS LEASE SALES IN ARCTIC REFUGE

Groups argued they were based on old or inadequate data

A U.S. judge on Tuesday refused to halt oil and gas lease sales in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that were pushed by the Trump administration in its final days.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason’s decision came after conservationists and Indigenous groups argued the lease sales scheduled for today were based on inadequate environmental reviews or outdated information.

The ruling involves a region valued by conservationists for its beauty and wildlife and seen as sacred to some Indigenous people but viewed by others as a way to boost oil production and create jobs.

The judge was asked to halt the sale until underlying lawsuits are resolved. But in her ruling, Gleason said the groups had not shown a level of harms necessary for her to grant an injunction now.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has said the sale is in keeping with a 2017 law, while critics say the Trump administration is trying to rush the process before President-elect Joe Biden takes office later this month. During the campaign, Biden expressed interest in “permanently protecting” the refuge.

The fight over opening to development the refuge’s coastal plain, which is off the Beaufort Sea, dates back decades.

Supporters see it as a way to bolster oil production that’s currently a fraction of what it was in the late 1980s and create or sustain jobs in a rural region that relies heavily on the industry.

Critics counter the region is special, providing habitat for wildlife including caribou, polar and grizzly bears, wolves and birds, and should be off limits to drilling. The Indigenous Gwich’in consider the refuge’s coastal plain sacred and have argued that protecting it and a caribou herd that migrates to the area is a human rights issue.

It’s not clear what level of interest there might be among companies in drilling in the area. Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, has said companies keep such intentions quiet for competitive reasons.