Washington v. Bernhardt

Fifteen states filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Alaska challenging federal defendants’ approval of an oil and gas leasing program on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The plaintiffs asserted claims under the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The states alleged that the analysis of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts was inadequate because it “drastically” underestimated the leasing program’s indirect greenhouse gas emissions, failed to quantify costs from greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, and failed to meaningfully analyze climate impacts of methane emissions or cumulative impacts of greenhouse gas emissions.