Interior Gives Alaska 1.4 Million Acres of Land to Develop (1)

The Interior Department transferred 1.4 million acres of public lands along Alaska’s Dalton Highway to the state in part to promote mining, the agency announced Wednesday.

The state was entitled to the lands, until now managed by the Bureau of Land Management, under the Alaska Statehood Act, the department said in a statement. Alaska’s acquisition along the highway north of Fairbanks is part of 2.1 million acres Interior Secretary Doug Burgum offered the state in February after he revoked a pair of Nixon-era orders that protected the swath.

His revocation was challenged by 10 environmental groups in March in US District Court for the District of Alaska, saying Burgum illegally revoked decades-old public lands orders keeping the land under federal control. The orders, which the groups are asking the court to reinstate, blocked Alaska from claiming the land as part of more than 5 million acres of land entitlements the Interior Department says the federal government owes the state.

Alaska filed a motion to dismiss the case Wednesday, claiming the state has sovereign immunity and the court lacks jurisdiction. The state called the matter a “private action seeking to divest the State of a property interest,” which can’t be challenged in federal district court.

Bridget Psarianos, senior staff attorney at Trustees for Alaska, which represents the plaintiffs, said the land transfer is illegal.

“The Interior Secretary broke the law when removing federal protections for over 2 million acres of public lands in February without hearings in local communities, without a public comment period, and without addressing that decision’s impacts on land, water, and subsistence users,” she said.

The transfer is part of the Trump administration’s broad agenda to reverse decades of environmental conservation measures on federal lands and open as much of Alaska as possible to oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, and other development. The land is a key to building a 211-mile road to the remote Ambler mining district and part of the proposed route for the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas project, the department said.

Alaska is entitled to another 3.8 million acres of federal land, which has yet to be transferred, the department said.

“This milestone represents a leap forward in advancing Alaska’s ability to responsibly develop its resources and advance economic opportunity across Alaska,” Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) said in a statement.

Burgum said the transfer puts “Alaska at the forefront of American Energy Dominance.”