ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Environmental groups have wasted no time challenging the Trump administration’s attempt to allow oil and gas drilling in an Alaska refuge where polar bears and caribou roam.
Two lawsuits filed Monday sought to block the Interior Department’s plan to allow oil and gas lease sales on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The leader of the National Audubon Society says the decision last week to establish oil and gas lease sales was an “all-hands-on-deck moment” to defend the refuge.
The Interior Department says the leasing program was mandated by Congress and leaves most of the refuge off-limits.