"A federal lawsuit argues that proposed work by ConocoPhillips could threaten delicate ecosystems in the largest tract of public land in the U.S."

"A federal lawsuit filed Thursday challenges an oil company’s new permit to explore for oil in a remote region of the Arctic in Alaska, arguing that such activity threatens the tundra’s ecosystem and the caribou herds that Native communities rely on for sustenance.

Last month, the Bureau of Land Management approved the permit for ConocoPhillips to work in the National Petroleum Reserve, a vast expanse on Alaska’s North Slope. The lawsuit alleges that the agency fast-tracked its environmental assessment and failed to account for the harms the work could cause, such as disrupting the migration of the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, which gives birth and raises calves in the area.

Earthjustice, an environmental law group that filed the lawsuit, asked the court to revoke the permit. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of two national nonprofit organizations, The Wilderness Society and the Center for Biological Diversity, and Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, an Alaska Native-led group."

Karen Zraick reports for the New York Times December 11, 2025. [2]