Justice Department concedes Biden-era Arctic Refuge leasing program violated the law

The legal fight over drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge took a turn in the state's favor, though the shift says as much about who's in the White House as about the merits of the case. The U.S. Justice Department agreed to dismiss lawsuits brought by Alaska and its development authority, conceding that the previous administration's 2024 leasing program had departed from the 2017 law that opened the refuge — by capping surface development at 995 acres rather than the 2,000 the statute allows, and by sidestepping a required second lease sale.

That concession is a reversal: the federal government under the prior administration had defended the tighter 2024 rules as a lawful reading of the same statute. The current administration, which favors expanded Arctic drilling, agreed instead with Alaska's interpretation — a reminder that how the 2017 law gets applied has swung with each change in Washington.

The state collects half of federal lease revenue from sales on federal land — a comparable Arctic sale earlier sent nearly $82 million to the state treasury — and North Slope operators and pipeline workers have a direct interest in more acreage opening up. Supporters see the settlement as restoring what Congress mandated when it opened the coastal plain.