2 lawsuits challenge Trump's drilling plan in Alaska refuge

Environmental groups wasted time challenging Trump administration’s attempt to allow oil and gas drilling in an Alaska refuge where polar bears and caribou roam.

Two lawsuits filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Anchor sought to block Interior Department's plan to allow oil and gas lease sales on coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — a 1.56 million-acre strip of land along Alaska’s rrn Beaufort Sea coast, or about 8% of 19.3 million-acre refuge.

In one lawsuit, National Audubon Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council and Friends of Earth sued David Bernhardt, Interior Department secretary who approved oil and gas lease sales last week.

“Birds can’t vote, and y can’t file a lawsuit — but we can. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment to defend Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and protect America’s bird nursery from drilling,” David Yarld, president and CEO of National Audubon Society, said in a statement.

lawsuit asserts that Bernhardt didn't have permission to authorize a broad oil and gas leasing program because it violates government statutes managing plain. It also claims program violates Endangered Species Act and or environmental policies.

In or lawsuit, Gwich’in Steering Committee — an Indigeus group formed to protect refuge — and 12 or groups allege that Bernhardt and Interior Department's Bureau of Land Manment violated several laws, including Endangered Species Act and Wilderness Act.

Nearly 200,000 animals in Porcupine caribou herd, which are also kwn as reindeer, travel freely between Alaska and Canada and use coastal plain as calving grounds.

land ncy's “decision to violate lands sacred to my people and essential to health of Porcupine caribou herd is an attack on our rights, our culture and our way of life,” Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of Gwich’in Steering Committee, said in a statement.

Interior spokesman Nicholas Goodwin said “congressionally mandated energy development program" leaves 92% percent of refuge off-limits to development.

“ department’s decision regarding where and when development can take place includes extensive protections for wildlife, including caribou and polar bears,” he said in a statement.

Bureau of Land Manment in December 2018 concluded that drilling could be conducted within coastal plain without harming wildlife. President Donald Trump insisted Congress include a mandate providing for leasing in refuge in a 2017 tax bill.