We got good news when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted our motion for an emergency order stopping blasting, gravel mining, and road construction on the ConocoPhillips’ Willow project. On-the-ground construction would do real and immediate harm.… Read More

We went to court in December to stop ConocoPhillips from doing road building, blasting, and gravel mining as part of its Willow project in the western Arctic’s National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. A lot has changed since then, but not the project’s … Read More

Right after the Inauguration, President Biden signed an executive order directing the incoming secretary of the Interior Department to review the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas leasing program and temporarily halt all activities related to it. This … Read More

Sharing the same space really matters. It helps us understand each other more fully, with compassion, and to better communicate the nuance when making a point, light heartedly ribbing a friend, sharing a favorite song by oversharing it, or dishing out another cinnamon roll–oh how I miss my mother’s homemade holiday cinnamon rolls! … Read More

We filed a motion in U.S. District Court requesting a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to stop ConocoPhillips from starting harmful winter road construction and gravel mining in the western Arctic because of immediate threats to people and wildlife. It also challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to ensure impacts to polar bears will be mitigated.… Read More

We sprinted to court this week to stop the outgoing administration from selling off sacred and public lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge during the last days of its term.
The motion requests a preliminary injunction that stops the U.S. Bureau of Land Management from issuing any leases and from authorizing any seismic exploration activities.… Read More

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced today that it will issue a notice of lease sale of lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge next week, just one day after the 60th anniversary of establishment of the Arctic Refuge. … Read More

We’re taking the Interior Department, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to court for unlawfully and prematurely authorizing the ConocoPhillips Willow Master Plan despite its known harms to people and wildlife. BLM approved the Willow proposal in late October, despite the lack of a permit application and despite serious concerns from the public about the agency rushing the public process during a pandemic. … Read More

The National Environmental Policy Act, affectionately called NEPA in the alphabet soup of environmental law, is the cornerstone law that requires the federal government to look at the environmental, economic, social, and health impacts of any decision that might impact the environment. 
It applies to federal permitting decisions like those related to logging, mining, transportation, oil and gas extraction, and infrastructure like pipelines. It also applies to consequential multi-year land management plans that can set out how federal lands may be subjected to extractive projects. 

Most important, it gives local people and the public generally the chance to participate in the federal decision-making process to convey their concerns, knowledge, approval, and disapproval.… Read More