The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s conditional approval for the first offshore oil-drilling project in federal Arctic waters off Alaska, ruling that it violated environmental requirements when it issued approval in 2018.
Hilcorp Alaska was approved to build and operate the Liberty project, a nine-acre artificial drilling island and underwater pipeline that caused controversy for its potential to create oil spills in the Beaufort sea, threatening polar bears and Arctic communities.
A three-judge panel found that the Bureau of Ocean Management “acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to quantify the emissions resulting from foreign oil consumption”. The panel also found that the Bureau had not bothered to estimate the number of polar bears that might be harmed by the project before granting permits, instead relying on a “flawed and unlawful” biological opinion from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The suit was brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Pacific Environment, all represented by Earthjustice. Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, hailed Monday’s decision as “a huge victory for polar bears and our climate”.
“This project was a disaster waiting to happen that should never have been approved,” Monsell said. “I’m thrilled the court saw through the Trump administration’s attempt to push this project through without carefully studying its risks.”
Kara Moriarty, head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association in which Hilcorp is a member organisation, said the decision was “disappointing”.
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“(The project) will have to go back to BOEM to be reworked, adding delay and uncertainty, at a time when Alaska could use as many projects on the books as possible to get us back to some type of economic recovery,” she said.
Moriarty also said that, should the project not be taken up by the incoming Biden administration, the oil industry could sue for its advancement. Biden promised during his campaign that he would halt new oil and gas permits on federal lands, beginning from his first day in office.
