The United States District Court for the District of Alaska has declared Donald Trump’s opening of over 128 million acres of coastal waters to oil and gas drilling was illegal. At the same time, District Judge Sharon Gleason moved to block construction of a highway through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, protecting an area that’s been described as “America’s last true wilderness.”
As the Washington Post reports, Judge Gleason found that Trump’s actions violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act by withdrawing protection over federal lands without seeking congressional approval. Her ruling halts any further development on 128 million acres of federal waters in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
Following Trump’s opening of huge areas for drilling along the coasts, including areas that had previously been the sites of major oil spills and areas regarded as ecologically sensitive, the Interior Department moved quickly to rescind opening areas around Florida—a move that was seen as a nod to Florida’s GOP governor and legislature. At the same time, protests from other coastal states affected by Trump’s decision were ignored. Now all of the areas opened by Trump are off the table.
Judge Gleason’s ruling, unless overturned, would place the decision back with Congress, which would have to approve any areas to be opened for development. With Democrats in control of the House, it seems very unlikely that Trump could win approval for the kind of sweeping gift to the oil and gas industry he originally proposed, though smaller, regional areas might be approved in areas where the industry is strong.
The halt on off-shore drilling follows a ruling two weeks ago that halted development on over 300,000 acres of federal land that had been auctioned off by the federal government without taking into account how development of that land would affect climate change.
The Interior Department hasn’t commented on either ruling, but it can be expected that these rulings will be tested at the Supreme Court.
