Despite protests and a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, the U.S. government yesterday sold oil drilling rights to environmentally sensitive but oil-rich land on Alaska’s North Slope for $105 million. Enviro groups, including the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society, have a suit pending against the federal government over the drilling leases, claiming that the environmental impact statement on the sale is incomplete and that the government has not established habitat for the endangered eider duck, among other charges. ARCO and BP Amoco picked up the majority of the leases.
