Nuiqsut group sues Trump administration over Teshekpuk Lake protections

Representatives of Nuiqsut, an Iñupiat village on Alaska’s North Slope, have sued the Trump administration over the cancellation of a conservation agreement protecting the Teshekpuk Lake area and the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd, according to Alaska Beacon. Nuiqsut Trilateral Inc., which includes the city government, the tribal government and Kuukpik Corp., filed the lawsuit Jan. 28 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

The lawsuit challenges the Interior Department’s December cancellation of a 2024 right-of-way agreement covering about 1 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Interior Department Deputy Secretary Katharine MacGregor said in a cancellation notice that the agreement violated the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act and described subsistence harvesting as a “non-use” of resources. Alaska Beacon reports that the complaint disputes that characterization, arguing that subsistence is a recognized use under federal law and that the cancellation violates longstanding subsistence protections.