A federal judge in Alaska has thrown out a lawsuit from environmental groups seeking to block President Donald Trump’s decision to reopen hundreds of millions of offshore acres to potential oil and gas leasing.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska dismissed the case earlier this week, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to bring the challenge.
The dispute traces back to the final days of the Biden administration, when President Joe Biden withdrew more than 600 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf from offshore leasing consideration. On his first day in office, Trump rescinded those withdrawals, a move that put the acreage back on the table for future oil and gas programs.
A coalition of environmental organizations quickly sued over the reversal, arguing that Trump’s action violated federal law and exposed marine environments to imminent harm from exploration.
The court rejected that claim. In the ruling, the judge noted there were “no pending applications for [geological and geophysical] exploration activities in any waters outside of the Western and Central [Gulf of America].”
Because the plaintiffs could not show an active, substantial risk of imminent damage, the court dismissed the complaint without prejudice.
The Department of Justice welcomed the decision, arguing that environmental claims about future drilling were premature.
“The court properly dismissed plaintiffs’ case, because they failed to show an imminent injury from President Trump’s reopening of the OCS,” said Adam Gustafson, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division. “Where and when energy development will occur depends on a regulatory process that’s still underway and must be allowed to continue. Neither the President’s policy priorities nor industry’s expressions of interest could convert a speculative injury into a concrete one.”
Attorneys with the ENRD’s Natural Resources Section represented the government in the case. Because the dismissal was granted without prejudice, the plaintiffs retain the option to refile if circumstances change.
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