ConocoPhillips Alaska Road Construction OK’d Pending Lawsuit

ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. can build roads and open a gravel mine site in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska this winter, despite claims that traffic will disturb polar bears, a federal court ruled.

Environmental groups argued the mine site is within an area the federal government recognized as “terrestrial denning habitat.” But that habitat is described as only “potential” terrestial denning habitat, not “actual critical habitat,” according to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.

Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, the Alaska Wilderness League, and other groups sued the Department of the Interior after it approved ConocoPhillips’ oil drilling ...