Chukchi Sea

Date Filed: 1/31/2008
Case Status: Active

Native Village of Point Hope v. Salazar

On July 21, 2010, the federal district court in Alaska ruled that the Minerals Management Service (now the Bureau of Ocean Energy and Management) violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it offered for sale 29.4 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf north of Alaska for oil and gas leasing.  In particular, the court found that the government failed to consider the environmental impacts of incentives for natural gas production, and because it failed to identify and analyze gaps in essential information about the fragile Arctic environment.