The suit, filed in Alaska, is likely to be the first of many challenging the administration’s goal of expanding fossil fuel production.
Environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to stop the Trump administration from opening up vast new areas to offshore oil and gas drilling.
The suit is an opening shot in what is likely to be a series of cases aimed at thwarting the White House’s push for what it calls “energy dominance” by pivoting toward fossil fuels and away from cleaner energy sources like solar and wind.
Upon taking office, President Trump said he was revoking Biden-era protections against drilling for certain areas along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in the Arctic. Today’s lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska by Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm, on behalf of several groups. It argues that while Congress granted the president the power to place protections on those areas, it did not grant the executive branch the authority to undo those protections.
The lawsuit names Mr. Trump and two cabinet officials — Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — acting in their official capacity, as defendants. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A nearly identical effort by the first Trump administration to expand drilling was stopped by a federal judge in Alaska in 2019. Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council on Wednesday also filed a motion on behalf of a broader collection of groups asking the same judge to reinstate that order.
Mr. Trump’s recent executive orders on the expansion of offshore drilling say that the country needs to encourage oil and gas exploration and production to meet demand and ensure that the United States remains a global energy leader.