Lawsuit Seeks to Stymie Energy Project

Environmental groups are suing Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton to block a plan to open 8.8 million acres to oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

Plaintiffs include the National Audubon Society, Wilderness Society, Sierra Club and the Alaska Wilderness League.

The lawsuit was delivered to the federal court clerk’s home Monday because it was a federal holiday, and is considered filed in U.S. District Court in Juneau.

The plaintiffs contend the plan is extreme and ignores sensitive habitat for North Slope birds, wildlife and whales -- violating several environmental protection laws.

The groups suing said they are seeking a more balanced plan for the area, at the northwest corner of the 22.5-million-acre reserve.

The lawsuit also names the Interior Department, the Bureau of Land Management and Henri Bisson, the bureau’s Alaska director.

The department’s plan for developing energy in the National Petroleum Reserve “is a responsible plan that supports conservation and allows the production of resources for a vibrant economy and a healthy environment,” said Mark Pfeifle, a spokesman for the Interior Department in Washington, D.C.

The plan designates study areas for caribou and birds, and protects another 1.5 million acres along the coast and some lakes and rivers.

The lawsuit contends those measures are misleading because they are only temporary.

“They’re just smoke and mirrors,” said Eleanor Huffines, Alaska regional director for the Wilderness Society.

Pfeifle disagreed.

“There is a tremendous amount of environmental protection in the record of decision that was signed on Jan. 22,” he said.

Much of the northeastern section of the reserve already is open to oil and gas exploration, but is under tight restrictions with some areas fenced off.