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In the News: Courthouse News Service August 10, 2026

Alaskan fishing management on the hook in Ninth Circuit

Kate Glover, Attorney, Alaska Office: “All the court needs to decide is a straightforward legal question: Can the Fisheries Service meet its obligation to minimize all adverse effects on all designated essential fish habitat by using only two tests to identify those adverse effects?”
The 19 million acres of tundra, rivers and mountains of the Arctic Refuge shelter migratory birds from all 50 states and six continents each summer. To the Gwich'in people of northeast Alaska, this is sacred ground. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Update June 5, 2026

Big Oil Stays Away from the Arctic Refuge, But the Fight Isn’t Over

The Trump administration tried to sell off the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to Big Oil with a lease sale on June 5.
Polar bears on the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Florian Schulz / protectthearctic.org)
Press Release June 5, 2026

Lease Sale Seeks to Transform Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into a Fossil Fuel Industrial Zone

All major oil companies refused to bid; one small oil company and a state of Alaska-sponsored corporation snapped up five leases in a rush to exploit the Refuge’s Coastal Plain
In the News: RE:PUBLIC May 18, 2026

The Plan to Rubber-Stamp Arctic Drilling

Erik Grafe, Managing Attorney, Alaska Office: “The Western Arctic is the place that has the most industry interest, and the administration is going all out.”
(Patrick J. Endres / Getty Images)
Article May 5, 2026

Why We’re Fighting Trump on Multiple Fronts to Protect the Arctic

The administration wants to maximize oil and gas drilling in Arctic regions of the U.S. We’re in court to stop them.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Hillebrand / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
Press Release April 20, 2026

Trump Administration Offers Vast Tracts within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Big Oil Drilling

Today’s lease sale notice sets into motion this administration’s radical agenda to industrialize the Refuge to benefit oil companies – not the American people
Stormy Hamar, a Haida artist and carver and a member of the Organized Village of Kasaan Tribal Council, is working to protect the remaining old-growth trees on Prince of Wales Island in the Tongass National Forest. (David Herasimtschuk for Earthjustice)
Article March 23, 2026

What the Tongass Needs is Time to Heal, Not More Logging

The Organized Village of Kasaan is fighting alongside other Southeast Alaska tribes and forest advocates to defend the Tongass National Forest.
Caribou in the Western Arctic, near the Lake Teshekpuk area. (Kiliii Yuyan for Earthjustice)
Press Release March 18, 2026

Western Arctic Lease Sale Auctions Off More than a Million Acres of Ecologically Sensitive Lands for Oil and Gas Drilling

Vast natural areas, long protected from extraction, were included in 187 tracts that oil and gas companies bid on for oil development
Two polar bears at the whale bone pile on Barter Island in the Beaufort Sea near Kaktovik, Alaska. (Reimar Gaertner / Getty Images)
document March 17, 2026

Alaska Regional Report: Spring 2026

Earthjustice works to defend Alaska’s ecosystems from these threats in partnership with local communities. This day-in, day-out work is made possible by supporters like you.
Tongass National Forest, Kuiu Island, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. The Roadless Rule protects about half of the Tongass, the crown jewel of the National Forest system and home to nearly one-third of all old-growth temperate rainforest remaining in the entire world. (David Herasimtschuk for Earthjustice)
From the Experts March 13, 2026

Now Is the Time to Speak for the Tongass

A revision of the forest plan for the Tongass National Forest is now underway.
A Cook Inlet beluga calf swims with three larger beluga whales. (Paul Wade / NOAA Alaska Fisheries Science Center)
Press Release February 26, 2026

Traditional Tribal Nation, Community and Environmental Groups Notify Interior Department of Intent to Challenge Upcoming Offshore Oil-and-Gas Sale in Cook Inlet, Alaska

Trump administration plans to hold sale in violation of Endangered Species Act, putting extremely vulnerable Cook Inlet beluga whales at risk
document February 17, 2026

Alaska Letter Opposing Proposed Offshore Drilling Plan

Groups and individuals from across Alaska to express alarm and strong opposition to the proposal by the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) to open nearly all federal waters…
Caribou in the Western Arctic around the Teshekpuk Lake area. (Kiliii Yuyan for Earthjustice)
Press Release February 17, 2026

Lawsuit Challenges Massive Oil and Gas Sale Over Harms to Western Arctic Public Lands and the Climate

Vast natural areas long protected from extraction will now be offered to oil companies for drilling
document February 17, 2026

Western Arctic: Amended and Supplemented Complaint

The Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth U.S., represented by Earthjustice, are challenging the lease sale and the underlying management plan, or Integrated Activity Plan, that opens…
document February 5, 2026

60-Day Notice of Intent to Sue: Endangered Species Act Violations Related to the Integrated Activity Plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska

Conservation groups represented by Earthjustice issued a letter to the Bureau of Land Management and to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum providing the required 60-day notice of the groups’…
Caribou form large herds on the coastal plains north of the Brooks Range. (Florian Schulz / visionsofthewild.com)
Press Release February 2, 2026

Trump Administration Prepares for New Oil and Gas Auction in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge

Interior’s “Call for Nominations” invites companies to choose public lands areas it wants to bid on in a future lease sale
Kuskokwim River, in southwest Alaska. The Donlin mine's massive industrial operation will destroy thousands of acres of wetlands and streams and cause permanently elevated levels of dangerous metals in local water. (Peter Griffith / NASA)
Press Release January 28, 2026

Federal Agencies Launch Court-Ordered Environmental Study for the Donlin Gold Mine in Alaska

Thanks to last year’s victory in a challenge brought by Southwest Alaska Tribes, the agencies had to supplement the mine’s environmental study to examine the risks of a larger tailings…
A petroleum drill site operates in Alaska’s Western Arctic, near Lake Teshekpuk. (Kiliii Yüyan for Earthjustice)
Press Release January 28, 2026

Court Denies Request to Halt Western Arctic Oil Exploration

The ruling allows ConocoPhillips to proceed with its plans for winter exploration program