WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of environmental organizations, led by NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and Earthjustice, sued to challenge President Trump’s executive order that revokes protections for more than 625 million acres of ocean. Two actions filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, seek to reinstate safeguards established by Presidents Biden and Obama under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), which had permanently withdrawn vast areas of the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Arctic waters from offshore oil and gas leasing.
“Trump’s executive order is an unlawful giveaway to the fossil fuel industry that puts marine ecosystems, coastal economies, and the climate at risk,” said Christy Goldfuss, executive director at NRDC. “The law is clear: Once a president permanently withdraws ocean areas from oil and gas leasing, those protections cannot simply be undone. With the Trump administration aggressively dismantling environmental safeguards, the courts will be a crucial backstop. When Trump puts polluters over the law, we’ll see him in court.”
NRDC and others successfully challenged Trump’s attempt to reverse Section 12(a) protections for parts of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans during his first term. In 2019, a federal court ruled that presidents lack the authority to reverse permanent withdrawals of ocean areas under Section 12(a). While the Ninth Circuit later dismissed the case as moot following President Biden’s reinstatement of those protections, today’s legal challenge seeks to restore that ruling. Another lawsuit filed today seeks to block Trump’s latest attempt to open other waters—also protected earlier this year by President Biden—to oil and gas drilling.
The executive order in question revokes critical protections for some of the nation’s most ecologically sensitive marine environments. These areas support deep-sea corals, endangered species such as the North Atlantic right whale, and thriving fisheries that sustain coastal communities. By stripping these protections, the Trump administration is paving the way for expanded offshore drilling—bringing increased vessel traffic, seismic blasting, pollution, and the ever-present risk of catastrophic oil spills.
The legal challenges underscore the urgency of maintaining strong protections for public waters. Despite Trump’s claims of an “energy emergency,” the United States is already a net exporter of oil and gas, and expanding offshore drilling is unnecessary. New lease sales would take years to produce oil, doing nothing to address current energy concerns while locking in decades of fossil fuel development at a time when the nation must transition to clean energy solutions.
The plaintiffs are seeking immediate judicial intervention to block Trump’s order and reinstate the protections that have safeguarded these ocean areas. A ruling in their favor would reaffirm the legal precedent that permanent presidential withdrawals under OCSLA’s 12(a) authority cannot be undone without congressional action, ensuring that these critical marine ecosystems remain protected from future exploitation.
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).
