Critically Endangered Beluga Whales Protected From Oil Drilling In Alaska’s Cook Inlet

Animal welfare and environmental groups are celebrating a significant victory after a federal district court judge overturned an offshore oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, the sole habitat of critically endangered beluga whales. The judge ruled that the federal government violated the law when conducting the sale.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Natural Resources Defense Council filed the lawsuit together with Earthjustice, on behalf of Cook Inletkeeper, Kachemak Bay Conservation Society, and Alaska Community Action on Toxics.

“Today’s legal victory is a win for Alaska communities, threatened beluga whales, and future generations who will face a hotter planet,” said Earthjustice attorney Carole Holley. “We’re celebrating the fact that this destructive lease sale has been sent back to the drawing board, and we will continue to push for a transition away from fossil fuels and toward a brighter and healthier energy future.”

Lease Sale 258, conducted by the Department of the Interior in December 2022, opened nearly a million acres of federal waters in Southcentral Alaska to the fossil fuel industry, potentially committing the area to decades of future oil and gas drilling.

Initially, the Interior Department canceled Lease Sale 258 in May 2022. However, following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the department announced in August that the sale would proceed. Despite the Act’s efforts to combat climate change, it contained a provision that revived the Cook Inlet lease sale, along with two others in the Gulf of Mexico: Lease Sales 259 and 261, which are currently being litigated.

Although Lease Sale 258 attracted only one bid for a relatively small tract, the auctioned areas overlapped with critical habitats of federally endangered marine mammals. Cook Inlet is home to beluga whales and sea otters, both protected under the Endangered Species Act. The sole bidder was Hilcorp.

Tuesday’s ruling noted that, among other things, the Department of the Interior failed to fully consider the lease sale’s cumulative impacts on beluga whales, as well as the issue of blaring vessel noise. Belugas use sound to “see” in a process known as echolocation, which supports behaviors such as hunting, avoiding obstacles, and finding each other. Noise impacts can threaten the whales’ survival.

Following the ruling, the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management must conduct a supplemental environmental review and determine, based on this new review, whether or not to add protections or redo the lease sale. The ruling also suspends Hilcorp’s lease while this process is underway. Since the start of 2024 alone, Hilcorp has been the subject of four different enforcement actions from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

In addition to endangered marine life, the Cook Inlet also supports a multi-faceted tourist industry, fed by visitors from around the world drawn by the region’s unparalleled natural beauty. The Inlet is also essential for Alaska’s Native communities who have stewarded these lands and waters for millennia.

“Today’s victory in Cook Inlet is a triumph of community resilience and environmental stewardship,” said Loren Barrett, co-executive director at Cook Inletkeeper. “Our coastal communities have long resisted oil and gas leasing, understanding the irreversible impacts of industrial disasters and the need to preserve Cook Inlet’s habitat, fisheries, and natural beauty.”

”By overturning Lease Sale 258, the court has recognized the critical importance of safeguarding Cook Inlet’s dynamic ecosystem, and an essential piece of habitat required to ensure the continued survival of the iconic Cook Inlet beluga whale,” continued Barrett.

Alaska is experiencing more extreme consequences of climate change than the continental United States. Coastal erosion, thawing permafrost, and melting sea ice are all ramifications of the worsening global climate crisis, which will only intensify with new oil and gas drilling operations.