Lawsuit seeks to block Western Arctic oil and gas lease sale
The coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the birthing ground of the famed Porcupine Caribou Herd
Credit: Peter Mather.
The suit was filed by Grandmothers Growing Goodness and The Wilderness Society
WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 17, 2026) – The Wilderness Society and Grandmothers Growing Goodness filed a lawsuit today in federal court in the District of Columbia seeking to block leasing as part of a March 18 oil and gas lease sale in the Western Arctic, and the Trump administration’s 2025 Integrated Activity Plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The lease sale is scheduled to offer more than 600 tracts totaling more than 5.5 million acres in the Western Arctic’s reserve. The Trump administration is offering leases in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area and along the Colville River – areas critical to wildlife and subsistence users.
As part of today’s announcement regarding the filing of litigation, The Wilderness Society and Grandmothers Growing Goodness released the following statements:
“The Trump Administration’s upcoming lease sale would sell off lands that support critical caribou habitat, calving grounds, and migration routes to oil and gas companies for development—sandwiching the most important lands for caribou in the Western Arctic between industrial infrastructure and drilling– leaving them trapped. It would also shift their migration westward, making it difficult if not impossible for our community to continue hunting this herd, which is essential to our food security,” said Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Executive Director of Grandmothers Growing Goodness. “Our community depends on the well-being of the caribou herd for subsistence and just until recently these lands were protected by a Nuiqsut Trilateral agreement because of their undeniable importance to continuing our way of life. Our elected officials may have turned their backs on us, but we have fought to protect this region for generations. We will not stand by and give up now – goodness will always persevere."
“These lands, especially those around Teshekpuk Lake, should be protected so that future generations of Alaskans can enjoy the freedom that comes from clean air, clean water and the abundant wildlife that fill our freezers and sustain our way of life,” said Matt Jackson, Alaska senior manager for The Wilderness Society. “Instead, the Bureau of Land Management is moving to sell off millions of acres to outside companies seeking to drill in some of the most important wild habitats in the American Arctic.
"It is simply unacceptable that they are rushing to sell off our public lands for corporate profits at the expense of the American people, beloved wildlife, and Alaskans who depend on nearby fish and game,” Jackson added. “We will not stand by and allow it to happen, so we are taking our fight to the courts.”
Officially named the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the 23-million-acre Western Arctic is America’s largest tract of public land and was designated by Congress in the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act to be managed for both conservation and energy production.
