Free Republic

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal judge in Alaska on Tuesday ruled the Biden administration lacked the authority to cancel seven oil and gas leases that had been issued for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason said terms of a 2017 tax law that set the stage for the first-ever lease sale in the refuge’s coastal plain in early 2021 suggested that leases could only be canceled by a court order. She sent the matter back to the Department of Interior for further action. President Donald Trump upon his return to office in January signed...

According to the Anchorage paper: adn.com And the Alaska Landmine: alaskalandmine.com It turns out a federal judge in Alaska was engaging in a little hanky panky. So were a couple of attorneys who were in his court.

Former President Carter is taking the rare step of weighing in on judicial proceedings, saying that an appeals court is misinterpreting a conservation law he signed. On Monday, Carter filed a briefing chastising a ruling that upheld a Trump-era decision to build a road through a national wildlife refuge in order to enable medical evacuations nearby.

A federal judge has reversed the Trump administration’s environmental approval for ConocoPhillips’ multibillion-dollar proposed Willow development on Alaska’s North Slope, throwing a significant roadblock in front of a project seen by analysts as a needed boost to the state’s flagging oil industry and tax revenue. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, in a 110-page ruling on two related lawsuits Wednesday, said the Trump administration’s approval of the project under the National Environmental Policy Act was flawed because it failed to thoroughly analyze potential greenhouse gas pollution, and didn’t sufficiently consider legal protections for Teshekpuk Lake, an important subsistence area on...