ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Four environmental groups are suing to overturn a federal petroleum lease sale in northern Alaska.
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The groups say the Interior Department in December conducted the largest-ever lease offering within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska without a proper environmental review.
The lawsuit says the Bureau of Land Management did not retain authority to prohibit future activities on the leases sold and failed to thoroughly analyze effects of oil and gas development.
The environmental groups say the lease areas include one of the largest and most significant wetland areas in the world.
The Interior Department offered 900 tracts covering 16,100 square miles (41,700 sq. kilometers), roughly the size of New Hampshire and Massachusetts combined, in the lease sale.
Oil companies submitted bids on just seven tracts covering 125 square miles (324 sq. kilometers).
