Alaska Federal Court Overturns Oil Lease Sale in Critical Beluga Whale Habitat

In a win for environmental groups, on Tuesday an Alaska federal court overturned a sale of oil and gas leases in Cook Inlet.

The court found that the United States Department of the Interior (DOI) had broken the law by failing to adequately consider the cumulative environmental impacts of the lease sale on endangered beluga whales, in addition to the issue of loud noise from sea vessels, a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity said.

Belugas use echolocation — using sound to navigate — for hunting, locating each other and avoiding obstacles. When this process is impacted by noise it can threaten their survival.

“Today’s legal victory is a win for Alaska communities, threatened beluga whales, and future generations who will face a hotter planet,” said Carole Holley, attorney for Earthjustice, in a press release from the nonprofit environmental law organization. “We’re celebrating the fact that this destructive lease sale has been sent back to the drawing board, and we will continue to push for a transition away from fossil fuels and toward a brighter and healthier energy future.”

The sale had been mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act as part of a political compromise by the Biden administration and Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

The lawsuit was filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice on behalf of the Kachemak Bay Conservation Society, the Cook Inletkeeper and Alaska Community Action on Toxics.

Lease Sale 258 was held in December of 2022 by the DOI, opening almost a million acres of Southcentral Alaska federal waters to fossil fuel interests and potentially solidifying decades of oil and gas drilling, the Center for Biological Diversity said.

The sale was originally canceled by DOI in May 2022, but the department announced it would be held after the Inflation Reduction Act was passed with a provision that revived the Cook Inlet sale, along with Lease Sales 259 and 261 in the Gulf of Mexico, which are currently being litigated.

Lease Sale 258 received one bid for a relatively small but important tract auctioned to oil and gas company Hilcorp. The areas in the tract overlapped with critical habitat of sea otters and beluga whales, both protected under the Endangered Species Act.

“This ruling helps protect Cook Inlet’s vibrant ecosystem, which is home to endangered beluga whales, and supports productive fishing grounds and culturally important sites for Alaska Natives,” said Irene Gutierrez, NRDC senior attorney, in the press releases. “The region should not be sacrificed to decades of oil drilling. Interior must fully consider the range of potential harms when it carries out the court’s ruling.”

A supplemental environmental review must now be conducted by DOI’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to determine whether to redo the lease sale or add protections. Hilcorp’s lease is suspended during the review. Since the beginning of this year, four enforcement actions have been brought against Hilcorp by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Cook Inlet is not only home to endangered marine life, but it also supports subsistence, recreational and commercial fisheries and tourism. Cook Inlet is vital for Alaska Native communities, who have been its stewards for millenia.

“Today’s victory in Cook Inlet is a triumph of community resilience and environmental stewardship,” said Loren Barrett, Cook Inletkeeper’s co-executive director, in the press release from Center for Biological Diversity. “Our coastal communities have long resisted oil and gas leasing, understanding the irreversible impacts of industrial disasters and the need to preserve Cook Inlet’s habitat, fisheries, and natural beauty. By overturning Lease Sale 258, the court has recognized the critical importance of safeguarding Cook Inlet’s dynamic ecosystem, and an essential piece of habitat required to ensure the continued survival of the iconic Cook Inlet beluga whale.”

The consequences of climate change are being felt more acutely in Alaska than in the continental U.S. From melting sea ice and thawing permafrost to coastal erosion and fishery collapse, these effects will only escalate if new oil and gas drilling operations are allowed to move forward.

“We are incredibly happy that the Court has sent this harmful oil sale back to the Department of Interior, which must now properly analyze the impacts of offshore oil drilling on beluga whales and the marine life upon which we so depend,” said President of Kachemak Bay Conservation Society Roberta Highland in the press release from Earthjustice. “The government has an obligation to recognize the connection between human activities and the waters we rely on, and the waters of Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay comingle. The climate crisis is here and we must do everything in our power to recognize and rectify the challenges it presents for us and future generations. We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”