Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s Massive Public Lands Giveaway in Alaska - CleanTechnica

The article reports on a lawsuit filed by ten Alaska and national environmental groups against the U.S. Interior Department challenging the Trump administration’s decision to remove federal protections from approximately two million acres of public lands in Alaska. These lands, protected for over 50 years under Public Land Orders 5150 and 5180, form a critical ecological corridor between Gates of the Arctic National Park and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, supporting wildlife migrations, subsistence hunting, and intact Arctic ecosystems. The removal of protections allows the State of Alaska to take control, opening the area to mining claims and industrial projects such as the proposed Ambler mining road, as well as expanded LNG production, which environmentalists warn will cause irreversible damage. The lawsuit alleges that the Interior Department violated multiple federal laws—including the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act—by failing to conduct proper environmental reviews, hold public hearings, or meaningfully consult