Arctic Offshore Drilling Case Tossed as Moot after Biden Order

A federal court has dismissed a closely watched appeal involving Arctic oil and gas exploration in light of a recent policy reversal by the Biden administration.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday granted the government’s request to toss the case, which centered on a Trump-era effort to open to development parts of the outer continental shelf in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas and the Atlantic Ocean. A lower court struck down the policy in 2019, and the Trump administration appealed.

But the appeal is now moot due to President Joe Biden’s reversal of the policy ...