Native Alaskans file lawsuit challenging federal overreach in wake of SCOTUS ‘Chevron' ruling

Native Alaskans are fighting back against the Biden administration’s decision to shut down oil and gas development in northern Alaska, which they say is vital to the prosperity and well being of their communities. 

The Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat (VOICE), a nonprofit advocacy group for Native-American communities living on the state’s North Slope, filed a lawsuit Monday against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland over the final BLM’s final rule blocking 13 million acres in their region to oil and gas development.

The lawsuit argues that the rule goes against the Congressional intent of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), which was to increase domestic supplies of oil.