Cases

Defending the Arctic Refuge from Oil & Gas Drilling

To the Gwich’in people of northeast Alaska, this is sacred ground. Emissions from oil and gas development would exacerbate the climate crisis and raise global sea levels. Melting permafrost could release large amounts of methane, which is roughly 30 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

Clients

Center for Biological DiversityFriends of the EarthNational Audubon SocietyNatural Resources Defense Council

Regional Office / Program

Alaska Office

Case Overview

Generations of Americans have protected the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from development.

The Arctic Refuge, which spans 19 million acres across northeast Alaska, is one of the planet’s last fully intact wild landscapes. The region’s tundra, rivers, and mountains shelter migratory birds from all 50 states and six continents each summer. Grizzlies, wolverines, musk ox, and tens of thousands of caribou also call the Refuge home.

Scientists believe that if we’re to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, it is essential to keep Arctic fossil fuel reserves in the ground. There currently is no oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge.

Political leaders have repeatedly determined that drilling in the Refuge is a terrible idea. Yet, in 2017, then-President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a bill that used backdoor budgetary tactics to open the Refuge’s coastal plain to oil and gas drilling.

Earthjustice is working with a broad coalition of partners to oppose reckless attempts to hand over the publicly owned wilderness of the Arctic Refuge to the oil and gas industry.

The Arctic Refuge.
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)

Case Updates

January 13, 2026 document

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Amended and Supplemented Complaint

Updated complaint resumes litigation to protect the 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas leasing, adding new claims challenging Interior’s October 2025 decision to again open the Coastal Plain to leasing.

A wide landscape with hundreds of caribou standing next to water with mountains in the background.
January 13, 2026 Press Release

Groups Challenge Arctic Refuge Leases and Drilling Plan

Updated complaint restarts paused litigation to protect the 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas leasing

Two white polar bears on a brown dirt field with driftwood.
December 19, 2025 Press Release

Groups Issue Notice of Intent to Sue Federal Agencies Over Expected Harm to Polar Bears from Arctic Oil and Gas Development

Federal agencies failed to prevent harm to threatened polar bears when they opened the entire Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing

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Case page created on April 28, 2021.