Leaders of the North Slope village of Nuiqsut filed a lawsuit this week challenging the Department of Interior’s decision to cancel protections for a sensitive area within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management issued an agreement with Nuiqsut leaders about a year ago that granted them rights over the area around Teshekpuk Lake and prohibited oil and gas development there. The goal was to mitigate the harm that the ConocoPhillips’ Willow project would have on caribou that Nuiqsut residents rely on for subsistence, according to the agreement.
Last month, the Department of the Interior, which oversees BLM, canceled that agreement, saying that it was improperly issued in the first place. Nuiqsut’s leadership filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that the cancellation was illegal and seeking to restore their rights to the area.
George Tuukaq Sielak, president of Nuiqsut’s Kuukpik Corporation, said that the cancellation was disappointing and damaged the trust of Nuiqsut residents.
“We're fighting to protect the area and think about the caribou,” he said. “By pulling that right of way off, I mean, it's just like throwing us away.”
Department of Interior officials declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
BLM granted Nuiqsut authority over Teshekpuk lake to protect caribou
ConocoPhillips says that the Willow project, which is still under development on the North Slope, will produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak. Its approval was controversial locally and nationally.
When BLM approved the Willow project in 2023, one condition was mitigating the project’s effects on Teshekpuk Lake, in the northeastern corner of the reserve. The lake is a key habitat for migrating birds and the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, which Nuiqsut leaders say relies on calving grounds in the area and remains fragile after a recent decline.
To meet the condition for protecting Teshekpuk Lake, BLM signed a right-of-way agreement with Nuiqsut Trilateral, a nonprofit organization comprising the city and village of Nuiqsut along with the village’s Kuukpik Corp. The nonprofit was formed in 2024 to protect the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd.
The agreement granted Nuiqsut the rights over about 1 million acres around Teshekpuk Lake and prohibited any new oil and gas development activity in that area for the duration of the Willow project, unless the Nuiqsut leadership decides to allow it.
“It gives Nuiqsut, the community closest to and most impacted by oil and gas development on the North Slope, the power to protect this important place for the duration of the Willow project’s impacts on the herd and associated subsistence uses,” BLM said in a statement after signing the agreement.
That conservation measure was backed by the federal law regulating the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which directs the Department of Interior to conduct competitive oil and gas leasing in the reserve. It also requires “maximum protection” for Teshekpuk Lake and other significant subsistence areas.
The court complaint says that Kuukpik Corp. did not support the Willow project before BLM began considering additional protections for the Teshekpuk area.
Sielak said that Nuiqsut residents are careful when they consider development projects so close to their home.
“We are the most impacted village in this area,” he said. “We feel it. Example of the drilling rig that just toppled on one of the pads — you know, that's also on our land. And we feel for our land.”
But Sielak said the promise of additional protections for caribou and their subsistence lifestyle ultimately helped more residents to get on board with the Willow project.
“We will support development in our area, as long as we work together to balance, such as what we're doing here with a right of way,” he said.
The Department of Interior cancels Teshekpuk Lake protections
Last month, the Department of the Interior canceled the right-of-way agreement with Nuiqsut. The letter outlining their decision said that federal law does not authorize such conservation measures.
The department said in the letter that, while it can grant right-of-way agreements, those are usually used to allow oil and gas activities, not prohibit them.
Department officials also said that the primary goal of the law regulating the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is “to support an expeditious oil and gas leasing program to provide for the energy needs of the nation,” and that protection for crucial subsistence areas is secondary to that goal.
The letter said the right-of-way agreement “could frustrate various planned and anticipated oil and gas development activities” and that “expeditious cancellation is necessary to ensure these activities can proceed without delay.”
Sielak said the department did not consult Nuiqsut leadership before canceling the agreement.
Nuiqsut sues the Department of Interior over cancelation
In the court complaint, filed Wednesday, Nuiqsut leaders called the cancellation unlawful and unconstitutional and said it jeopardizes the subsistence resources the local community relies on.
In a prepared statement, Roxanna Oyagak, the secretary and treasurer of the Nuiqsut Trilateral Board of Directors, said the organization is not against all development.
“But we are insisting that the federal government honor the commitments it made to protect subsistence when it approved Willow,” the statement read. “The cancellation of the mitigation for Teshekpuk Lake is unlawful and threatens the balance that Congress required for developing this area.”
In its letter about the cancellation of the right-of-way agreement, the Department of Interior indicated that they expect to hold lease sales this winter, which may include the area around Teshekpuk lake.
Nuiqsut leadership said they might consider legal avenues – like seeking injunctive relief during litigation – to protect the area, but no decision has been made yet.
