On January 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the Department of the Interior violated the law when it opened 30 million acres to oil and gas exploration. The ruling invalidated key sections of the Environmental Impact Statement for the 2008 Outer Continental Lease Sale for the Chukchi Sea, stating that those sections were flawed.
Friday Arctic Slope Regional Corporation released a statement today that said they are “deeply disappointed” by the court’s decision.
ASRC’s Senior Vice President Tara Sweeney stated why.
Sweeney: “Because it will have a negative impact, not only on the Arctic slope region, where oil development is in our backyard but on the entire state of Alaska. This uncertainty threatens our businesses, jobs, contracting opportunities and thwarts our ability to build capacity in our region and across the state.”
The Department of Interior is up against a coalition of 13 environmental groups and two tribal groups who welcomed the decision and the pause in exploration because of the ruling.
