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View from Deer Mountain Trail in Tongass National Forest, Alaska. (Mark Meyer / U.S. Forest Service)
Update March 19, 2024

We Must Continue to Defend America’s Largest Old-Growth Forest

Earthjustice is in court fighting the state of Alaska and industry representatives as they try to undo the safeguards that keep the Tongass standing.

Fishing skiffs tied up on the riverbank along the Kuskokwim River in the village of Akiachak, Alaska. (Design Pics Inc / Alamy)
Update March 19, 2024

Alaska Native Communities Are Standing up to a Gold Mine

Represented by Earthjustice, six Tribes are challenging the proposed Donlin Mine project in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

View of the Tulsequah River, looking east towards the confluence with Taku River.
(Photo courtesy of Chris Miller / Trout Unlimited)
Press Release February 19, 2024

Alaska Tribes facing BC mining threat ask for international hearing

SEITC briefs the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights on Canada’s violations

document February 19, 2024

SEITC Observations on the Merits of BC Mines Case

A group of Alaska Tribes with roots along Canada’s transboundary rivers, the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC), submitted a brief to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights requesting a hearing on the looming threats of several risky and under-regulated gold mines in British Columbia.

The Tongass is America’s largest national forest.
(Brian Logan / U.S. Forest Service)
Press Release January 30, 2024

Alaska Native Tribes, Southeast Alaska Businesses and Forest Advocates Defend Tongass National Forest’s Roadless Rule

Legal intervention seeks to retain forest protections that support Tribes, communities, and sustainable local economies

document January 30, 2024

Motion to Intervene to Defend Tongass Roadless Rule

A broad coalition of Alaska Native Tribes, commercial fishers, small tourism businesses, conservation groups, and other forest advocates are seeking to defend the reinstatement of National Roadless Rule protections across the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska by intervening in several legal challenges opposing the rule.

Unuk River is one of the transboundary watersheds of southeast Alaska. (USGS)
Press Release January 30, 2024

Alaska Native Tribes Press B.C. for Rights Amid Reckless Gold Rush

Tlingit Tribes originating along the Unuk River want a say in risky mining proposals

document January 30, 2024

Map: Sàanyàa Ḵwáan Traditional Territory in Unuk River Watershed (Jòonax̱)

Prepared for Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC) as part of a petition submitted to Canadian environmental regulators affirming their historic presence along the Unuk River, which is threatened by rapidly expanding transboundary mining.

View of the Tulsequah River, looking east towards the confluence with Taku River.
(Photo courtesy of Chris Miller / Trout Unlimited)
case January 10, 2024

Defending Watersheds in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia from Impacts of Mining

The Taku, Stikine, and Unuk rivers flow across the Canada-United States border, from headwaters in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia through Southeast Alaska to the sea. These watersheds are some of the largest and most productive salmon habitats remaining in the world. Alaska Native and First Nations peoples have harvested salmon and caribou from…

staff January 8, 2024

Lauren Tanel

Lauren Tanel is a legal practice assistant with the Alaska Regional Office.

(U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
feature December 20, 2023

2023: Another Big Year Defending the Arctic

With your support, this year, we kept up the fight to preserve Arctic lands and waters that are critical to the survival of wildlife, culturally important to Indigenous peoples, and serve as vital bulwarks against climate change.

document December 15, 2023

Brief: Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club v. United States Department of Energy

Petition for Review of United States Department of Energy Decisions to approve the LNG export license for the Alaska LNG project.

Caribou in the Western Arctic, the region where the Willow Project is being planned. (Kiliii Yuyan for Earthjustice)
Article November 22, 2023

Disrupting the Willow Project and Big Oil’s Even Bigger Dreams

Earthjustice filed an appeal and a motion to prevent construction on the Alaska mega-project. Here’s what comes next.

Fossil fuel pipelines crossing the Western Arctic in Alaska. (Kiliii Yuyan for Earthjustice)
Update November 17, 2023

We Just Filed an Appeal to Stop the Willow Project

Willow would be catastrophic for the climate, and we will not drop our challenge.

Press Release November 10, 2023

Tras Fallo Que Favorece al Proyecto Petrolero Willow, Grupos Presentarán Apelación

Grupos conservacionistas prometen seguir luchando contra el proyecto de combustibles fósiles de ConocoPhillips en el Ártico

Caribou in the western Arctic. (Kiliii Yüyan for Earthjustice)
Press Release November 9, 2023

Alaska District Court Rules Willow Oil Project Can Proceed; Conservation Groups Plan To File Appeal

Groups vow to keep up the fight against ConocoPhillips fossil fuel project in Arctic

document November 9, 2023

Willow Oil Project: Alaska District Court Decision

Groups vow to keep up the fight against ConocoPhillips fossil fuel project in Arctic

document October 31, 2023

Palmer Project: Notice of Appeal

Conservation organizations challenged a controversial wastewater discharge permit for the Palmer Project, a proposed multi-metals mine at the Chilkat Watershed’s headwaters. Earthjustice filed an appeal in Alaska Superior Court on behalf of Lynn Canal Conservation, Rivers Without Borders, and the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council seeking more protective standards for wastewater discharge from mineral exploration conducted by Constantine Metal Resources Ltd (Constantine), a subsidiary of Vancouver, B.C.-based American Pacific Mining.