(Reuters) The Biden administration has been sued by the U.S. state of Alaska for allegedly violating a Congressional order permitting oil and gas extraction in a section of the federal Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

A complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in Alaska contests the federal government's December 2024 decision to provide restricted oil and gas drilling leases in the coastal plain.

According to the lawsuit, the U.S. Interior Department intends to auction off 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) of property to oil and gas drillers this month, but restrictions on surface use and occupancy make it "impossible or impracticable to develop" those lands.

It further stated that the restrictions will significantly restrict future drilling and oil development in the preserve.

"Interior’s continued and irrational opposition under the Biden administration to responsible energy development in the Arctic continues America on a path of energy dependence instead of utilizing the vast resources we have available," said Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy in a statement.

In order to prevent the department from issuing leases during the auction, Alaska is requesting that the court overturn the December ruling.

A request for comment was not immediately answered by the department. A Bureau of Land Management representative chose not to comment.

Alaska claims it will only receive a small portion of the $1.1 billion in direct lease-related earnings that the Congressional Budget Office projected it would receive when the department cancels leases that were awarded in the final days of Donald Trump's presidency.

 

The lawsuit is the most recent legal action taken by Alaska in reaction to the Biden administration's efforts to safeguard the 19.6-million-acre (8-million-hectare) ANWR for caribou and polar bears.

The administration's decision to terminate the seven leases it owned was challenged in an October 2023 lawsuit filed by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. In July 2024, the state filed a second lawsuit to recoup lost revenue.

Environmentalists and Alaska's political leaders, who have long favored development in the coastal plain, engaged in bitter political battles over drilling in the ANWR, the largest national wildlife refuge, which was prohibited for decades.

That opportunity was obtained by Alaska lawmakers in 2017 when a clause in a tax cut bill supported by Trump was approved by Congress. During Trump's last days in office, it