In May, the Biden administration drew the wrath of environmental advocates when it filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for Alaska defending the Trump administration’s decision to greenlight the Willow project. The Interior Department said then that the Trump administration’s decision had complied with environmental rules in place at the time.
Environmental groups saw in Wednesday’s decision a vindication of their strong criticism of the Biden administration’s decision not to oppose the drilling plan.
“This is a resounding win for our clients and the climate,” Jeremy Lieb, a lawyer for Earthjustice, which represented multiple plaintiffs in the suit against the Trump administration’s approval of the project, wrote in an email. “The court’s decision vacates the Trump administration’s decision approving the Willow project, and we hope the Biden administration takes this opportunity to reconsider the project in light of its commitment to address the climate emergency.”
A spokeswoman for the Interior Department, Melissa Schwartz, declined to comment on the ruling and a spokesman for the White House did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/climate/alaska-willow-oil.html
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