Exxon and Arco can proceed with drilling in Alaska.
U.S. District Judge James Von Der Heydt denied a request from two Alaskan villages to halt offshore drilling in western Alaska, saying it would “harm the nation’s quest for new oil resources.” But he said the U.S. Department of the Interior broke the law when it conducted lease sales for the Navarin Basin and Norton Sound. The villages said the exploration would damage their life styles and immediately appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
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