*Elena (Nutter) Taitano
- Introduction
In Northern Alaska Environmental Center v. Trump, a coalition of eleven environmental organizations brought a multi-plaintiff lawsuit against President Trump to prevent offshore drilling.[1] The environmental coalition claimed that President Trump’s attempt to undo permanent protections of portions of the U.S. Continental Shelf exceeded his presidential power.[2] Further, the environmental coalition emphasized that oil and gas leasing activities in these areas would harm wildlife and their habitats.[3] Instead of addressing the issue of presidential power under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska dismissed the action for lack of standing.[4] Thus, if the environmental coalition can establish an imminent injury when it brings suit again, the district court may not be able to avoid addressing the key issue: Does President Trump have the authority under the OSCLA to rescind protection on areas previously withdrawn from oil and gas leasing during past presidencies?[5]
- The Background and Function of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
The OCSLA was originally enacted in 1953 in response to a dispute between the federal government and the state of Texas regarding the title of 2.5 million acres of tide-land.[6] The federal government currently has jurisdiction over the regulation of oil and gas exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), including lease sales.[7] The government’s jurisdiction of the OCS typically extends 200 nautical miles from the coast, totaling approximately 2.3 billion acres.[8]
Section 12(a) of the OCSLA gives presidents the authority to place moratoria suspending the land from oil and gas leasing or offshore drilling.[9] Many presidents have placed new moratoria in different regions of the OCS since the 1990s.[10] In contrast, not many presidents have attempted to rescind moratoria enacted by their predecessors.[11]
- The Decade-Long Fight Over Section 12(a) and the Arctic
In 2016, President Obama applied Section 12(a) to protect portions of the OCS indefinitely, including the Arctic’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.[12] The drilling ban protected 98% of the Arctic Ocean.[13] The following year, President Trump issued Executive Order 13795, which removed President Obama’s Arctic drilling ban to “unleash American energy.”[14] Environmental organizations quickly targeted the Executive Order, becoming the basis of litigation in League of Conservation Voters v. Trump.[15]
In League of Conservation Voters, the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska was presented with the question about the scope of presidential power under Section 12(a), specifically, whether it is constitutional to apply the OCSLA to revoke land protections placed by former presidents.[16] The court held that President Trump exceeded his federal authority because the Act gives presidents only the power to add additional protection, not the power to rescind previous presidential withdrawals.[17] President Trump’s plans to open the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas for leasing were halted after the court struck down specific provisions of Executive Order 13795 that pertained to oil and gas leasing.[18] The Trump Administration appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit.[19]
Before the Ninth Circuit heard the appeal, President Trump’s presidency ended, turning the litigation over to President Biden.[20] In January 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 13990, “Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis.”[21] The Executive Order reinstated President Obama’s 2016 Arctic protections, nullifying President Trump’s Executive Order 13795, which prompted League of Conservation Voters.[22] Due to President Biden’s Executive Order 13990, the Ninth Circuit held that the issue in League of Conservation Voters was moot.[23] Although the district court previously answered the question of the extent of presidential power under Section 12(a), that progress was lost when the Ninth Circuit directed the district court to dismiss the action.[24]
- Next Steps
The government will have to take more concrete steps toward a lease sale before the environmental coalition can successfully file a new complaint.[25] In Northern Alaska, the Government argued that although “the [A]dministration has announced a draft proposed Program that could potentially offer some of the previously withdrawn areas in future sales, no Program has yet been approved.”[26] The environmental coalition attempted to prove imminence by pointing to the government’s announcement that it plans to propose a lease sale in the Beaufort Sea by the end of the year.[27]
The environmental coalition stated its intention to bring the same claims against President Trump again “if and when any offshore activities are on the horizon.”[28] Because of the Administration’s planned sale in the Arctic by the end of this year, the next lawsuit could be near.[29] This would give the environmental coalition another chance to protect the Arctic wildlife and the court another chance to settle the age-old question of presidential power under Section 12(a).[30]
*Elena is a second-year student at the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she is a Distinguished Scholar of the Royal Graham Shannonhouse III Honor Society and serves as a staff editor for Volume 56 of the University of Baltimore Law Review. Before law school, she spent five years gaining experience in quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and pharmaceutical compounding. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from The Ohio State University.
[1] Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief at 1, N. Alaska Env’t Ctr. v. Trump, No. 3:25-cv-00038 (D. Alaska 2026).
[2] Id. at 2.
[3] Id. at 11.
[4] Order of Dismissal, N. Alaska Env’t Ctr. v. Trump, No. 3:25-cv-00038-SLG (D. Alaska 2026).
[5] Niina H. Farah, Trump’s Offshore Drilling Revival Survives Early Court Challenge, E&E News (Aug. 24, 2026, at 17:44 EDT), https://www.eenews.net/articles/trumps-offshore-drilling-revival-survives-early-court-challenge/.
[6] OCS Lands Act History, Bureau of Ocean Energy Mgmt., https://www.boem.gov/oil-gas-energy/leasing/ocs-lands-act-history (last visited Sept. 2, 2026).
[7] Id.
[8] Outer Continental Shelf, Bureau of Ocean Energy Mgmt., https://www.boem.gov/oil-gas-energy/leasing/outer-continental-shelf (last visited Sept. 2, 2026).
[9] Adam Vann, Offshore Oil and Gas Development: Legal Framework 3–4 (Cong. Rsch. Serv., 2026).
[10] Id. at 4–5.
[11] See, e.g., Kate Sheppard, Bush to Lift Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling Signed by His Father, Grist (July 15, 2008), https://grist.org/article/tanks-but-no-tanks/ (noting that President George W. Bush lifted offshore drilling ban enacted by George H.W. Bush).
[12] Tom DiChristopher, Obama Invokes 1953 Law to Indefinitely Block Drilling in Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, CNBC (Apr. 24, 2017, at 9:56 EDT), https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/20/obama-expected-to-invoke-1953-law-to-block-offshore-drilling.html.
[13] Court Affirms Protections Against Drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic, Earthjustice (Apr. 5, 2019) https://earthjustice.org/feature/inside-legal-case-judge-nixed-trump-attempt-drill-arctic-atlantic.
[14] Matthew Daly & Jill Colvin, Watch: Trump Signs Order Aimed at Opening Arctic Drilling, PBS News (Apr. 28, 2017, at 16:10 EDT), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-signs-order-aimed-opening-arctic-drilling; Exec. Order No. 13795, 82 Fed. Reg. 20815 (May 3, 2017).
[15] League of Conservation Voters v. Trump, 363 F. Supp. 3d 1013, 1016–17 (D. Alaska 2019), vacated, 843 F. App’x 937 (9th Cir. 2021), remanded to, No. 3:17-CV-00101-SLG, 2025 WL 2403127 (D. Alaska 2025).
[16] Id. at 1019–21.
[17] Id. at 1030.
[18] See War on the Offshore – President Trump Restores Areas Withdrawn by President Biden from Offshore Drilling, Vinson & Elkins (Mar. 26, 2025), https://www.velaw.com/insights/war-on-the-offshore-president-trump-restores-areas-withdrawn-by-president-biden-from-offshore-drilling/.
[19] League of Conservation Voters v. Trump (Offshore Leasing Ban), NRDC (Feb. 19, 2025), https://www.nrdc.org/court-battles/league-conservation-voters-v-trump-offshore-leasing-ban.
[20] Id.
[21] Exec. Order No. 13990, 86 Fed. Reg. 7037 (Jan. 25, 2021).
[22] Id.
[23] League of Conservation Voters v. Biden, 843 F. App’x 937, 938 (9th Cir. 2021).
[24] Id.
[25] See Farah, supra note 5.
[26] Order of Dismissal at 13, N. Alaska Env’t Ctr. v. Trump, No. 3:25-cv-00038-SLG (D. Alaska 2026).
[27] Id. at 15.
[28] See Farah, supra note 5.
[29] See Order of Dismissal, supra note 26, at 15.
[30] See discussion infra Section III.
