At least two lawsuits were filed in the federal district court for the District of Alaska challenging the Biden administration’s December 2024 decision authorizing oil and gas leasing on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Alaska alleged that the December 2024 record of decision negated the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s directive for oil and gas leasing on the Coastal Plain “by severely limiting use and occupancy” the surface of the lands to be leased. Alaska asserted violations of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. The <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/alaska-industrial-development-export-authority-v-us-department-of-the-interior/">other lawsuit</a> was filed by Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority.

Challenge to the Biden administration’s December 2024 decision authorizing oil and gas leasing on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Alaska v. U.S. Department of the Interior

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Lawsuits Challenged Biden Administration’s Version of the ANWR Coastal Plain Lease Sale

Filed

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A tax advantage is a fiscal incentive where the government reduces or exempts selected activities, goods or actors from taxes.

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Fossil gas, commonly known as natural gas, is a fossil fuel consisting chiefly of methane with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons and trace gases, found in underground deposits.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Lawsuits Challenged Biden Administration’s Version of the ANWR Coastal Plain Lease Sale

Target

Policy instrument

Fossil fuel

Economic sector

Finance