The same judge who greenlit the controversial Willow Project just axed a different Alaska oil venture

By Ella Nilsen, CNN

(CNN) — The federal judge who approved the controversial Willow oil project last year tossed a separate Alaska offshore drilling project in a decision Tuesday night.

It’s a notable win for environmental groups challenging the three offshore drilling lease sales mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act – a compromise written into the law by Sen. Joe Manchin in exchange for more offshore wind energy, which has been a major priority for the Biden administration.

In her ruling, Judge Sharon Gleason found the federal government failed to fully consider and prevent harm to beluga whales during its environmental analysis of the proposed lease sale in Cook Inlet – a narrow finger of water that extends southwest of Anchorage and connects to the Gulf of Alaska.

Cook Inlet belugas were added to the endangered species list in 2008; despite this, the whales have continued to decline, with recent estimates showing just 279 whales in the area.

Even though the drilling auctions are mandated by the law, Gleason ruled the federal government must follow older laws like the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act, and that the new law doesn’t render old ones “inapplicable.”

Carole Holley, an attorney for Earthjustice – an environmental law firm contesting the auction – called Gleason’s decision “highly significant.”

“It again affirms the IRA does not override NEPA,” Holley told CNN. “It’s a recognition that federal agencies need to take a hard look at the environmental impacts.”

The Interior Department will now have to redo their environmental analysis, and Gleason tossed the lone bid from oil and gas company Hilcorp to drill in Cook Inlet waters while they do so. Redoing the analysis could well stretch into next year, after the 2024 election.

A spokesperson for the Interior Department declined to comment on Gleason’s decision. CNN also reached out to Hilcorp for comment.

Besides the Cook Inlet lease sale, Biden’s Interior Department also auctioned off more than 73 million acres of water in the Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil and gas drilling in March of last year, as required by the Inflation Reduction Act.

It also approved the controversial Willow project on Alaska’s North Slope – signing off on drilling in an area estimated to contain 600 million barrels of oil. Willow galvanized youth and climate activists on social media protesting the decision, even after Biden paired it with new protections for other parts of Alaska’s pristine wilderness.

Those protections could be under major threat if former President Donald Trump is elected in 2024; Trump has promised to supercharge oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters.

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