Alaska, Oil Firms Challenge Petroleum Reserve Drilling Ban (1)

The Biden administration’s oil and gas ban across much of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the state’s Arctic coast violates Congress’ mandate to keep the region open to drillers, the state of Alaska argued in a federal lawsuit.

The state’s lawsuit filed July 3 is one of three lawsuits filed this week challenging the Interior Department’s rule finalized in May closing about 11 million acres of the 23.5 million-acre reserve to all oil and gas extraction while leaving about 11.8 million acres open to oil and gas leasing. Oil and gas infrastructure is banned or partly banned ...