Federal Judge Halts Trump Effort to Open Arctic Waters for Drilling (1)

A federal judge in Alaska struck down an executive order from President Donald Trump that had opened Arctic waters and deep canyon shelves in the Atlantic to oil and gas activity.

The March 29 decision by U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason restores Obama-era protections for the Chuckchi and Beaufort seas in the Arctic Ocean, as well as waters in the Atlantic. It covers a vast expanse of nearly 130 million acres of federal waters.

“It’s a big decision because it’s the court telling the president that he’s overstepping his authority,” Erik Grafe, an Anchorage-based attorney with Earthjustice who argued the ...