Inupiat Group Sues Federal Officials Over NPR-A Oil and Gas Decisions

Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic filed a federal lawsuit in Alaska District Court on February 19 challenging a Bureau of Land Management plan that opens more than 82 percent of the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to oil and gas leasing, alleging the agency stripped protections from some of the western North Slope's most sensitive wildlife and subsistence lands without proper legal review.

The case, docketed as 3:26-cv-00078 and naming Interior Secretary Doug Burgum among the defendants, was brought by Trustees for Alaska on behalf of six organizations including the Sierra Club and the Alaska Wilderness League. The plaintiffs contend BLM's 2025 plan violated federal environmental statutes by failing to adequately analyze impacts on wildlife, subsistence practices, and ecologically fragile areas before reducing prior protections across the reserve.

The lawsuit's effort to block a March 2026 lease sale did not succeed in time. That auction proceeded on March 18, drawing record bids of $163.7 million from 11 competing companies and awarding 187 tracts covering roughly 1.33 million acres out of 625 tracts offered across about 5.5 million acres. Hilcorp bid successfully on 78 tracts, a Repsol and Shell partnership on 42, ConocoPhillips on 30, and ExxonMobil on 24. It was the first NPR-A lease auction in seven years.

With the lease sale complete, the litigation shifted to procedure. On April 6, both sides filed a joint, unopposed motion asking the court to issue a scheduling order for case 3:26-cv-00078. Once the court grants that motion, it will set binding deadlines for defendants' responses, plaintiff briefs, and any motions for preliminary injunctive relief. That timetable will determine whether plaintiffs can obtain a court order pausing lease administration or field activities before the next exploration season, or whether the underlying environmental claims will be argued on a longer timeline.

SILA's new filing runs alongside parallel challenges to NPR-A decisions. A related case also captioned Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic v. Burgum, docket 3:25-cv-00356, saw a federal judge deny a preliminary injunction on January 27, ruling that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits or shown that BLM's decisions were arbitrary.

The lawsuit reflects a contested divide within North Slope Indigenous communities over NPR-A's direction. Voice of the Arctic Inupiat, a separate organization representing North Slope residents who support responsible energy development, celebrated the March lease sale. Federal law directs half of all royalties from NPR-A oil production to North Slope communities through a dedicated grant program, a financial stake that intensifies local interest in how the courts ultimately rule.

Companies now holding new leases, including ConocoPhillips with its active Willow project near the reserve's eastern boundary, will watch the scheduling order closely as they plan permitting timelines and field programs.