By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 19 -- A US District Court for the District of Alaska effectively opened the northwestern part of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to exploration by denying an injunction requested by groups seeking to increase wildlife protections.
US District Judge James K. Singleton Jr. of Anchorage on Jan. 10 issued a 21-page ruling saying that environmental organizations failed to make their case that US Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton violated laws by leasing NPR-A land for oil and gas drilling.
The US Bureau of Land Management had a June 2, 2004, lease sale, but Singleton banned seismic activity or drilling on those leases until the lawsuit was resolved. A BLM spokeswoman said Singleton's latest ruling lifts the earlier restrictions.
The dispute involved a remote 8.8-million-acre section in the northwestern NPR-A south of Barrow (OGJ, Feb. 2, 2004, p. 33).
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit included the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Audubon Society, Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Alaska Wilderness League, and Center for Biological Diversity.
In his denial of an injunction, Singleton ruled that the BLM had fulfilled the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act in developing its leasing plan.