Judge throws out Trump-era approvals for Alaska oil project

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge on Wednesday threw out Trump administration approvals for a large planned oil project on Alaska’s North Slope, saying the federal review was flawed and didn’t include mitigation measures for polar bears. Rebecca Boys, a ConocoPhillips’ spokesperson, said the company would review Gleason’s decision “and evaluate the options available regarding this project.” Spokespersons for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Interior Department said their agencies had no comment. Gleason said the land management agency’s exclusion of foreign greenhouse gas emissions in its environment review was “arbitrary and capricious.” She also ruled the agency acted contrary to law to the extent it developed its “alternatives analysis based on the view that ConocoPhillips has the right to extract all possible oil and gas on its leases.” Gleason voided a report by the U.S. Mike Dunleavy, in a statement, said the ruling “from a federal judge trying to shelve a major oil project on American soil does one thing: outsources production to dictatorships & terrorist organizations.” He called the decision “horrible.” ___ Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.