A federal judge agreed with Alaska that, under the 11th Amendment, the state cannot be sued by private parties in federal court.
(CN) – A federal judge on Friday denied a bid by an environmental nonprofit group to stop the U.S. Department of the Interior from transferring ownership of more than 2 million acres of public land along the Dalton Highway corridor in Alaska.
U.S. District Judge Aaron Peterson in Anchorage discharged claims challenging the transfer of 1.38 million acres because the Interior Department has already approved the transfer and Alaska’s sovereign immunity bars those claims.
Peterson, an appointee of Donald Trump, also denied the nonprofits’ request for a preliminary injunction blocking the transfer of the remaining 700,000 acres, finding they were unlikely to succeed on the merits and faced no imminent harm to warrant an injunction.
“A general concern that title will be transferred and future state management may permit different uses, different access rules, different wildlife management, or future industrial development is too speculative to justify preliminary relief,” the judge wrote.
The Environmental Center of Northern Alaska and nine other advocacy groups unsuspecting the Trump administration in March to block the removal of federal land protections along the Trans-Alaska Highway and Pipeline, which were built back-to-back in the 1970s and run north-south across the state.
“This decision should shock anyone who cares about the laws put in place to protect transparency, public participation and the health of people, the places they live, their livelihoods and their ways of life,” said Bridget Psarianos, an attorney with Trustees for Alaska that represents nonprofit organizations. “The administration’s removal of protection for these public lands prioritizes and cares for the mining industry, while ignoring community health and the public’s interest in sound decision-making.”
In February, US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum is revoked 54-year-old public lands orders protecting 2 million acres, carrying out President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive orders executive order“Unleashing the Potential of Alaska’s Extraordinary Resources.”
On February 20, Burgum said the transfer would allow Alaska to “chart its own course and develop the energy, minerals and infrastructure that strengthen America’s security and prosperity.”
In theirs complaintnonprofits say removing protections and transferring land to Alaska would open up the area to mining and oil and gas development, while speeding permits for the proposed 211-mile Ambler Road, which would connect a potential mining district to the Dalton Highway.
Peterson explained in his ruling that when Alaska joined the Union in 1959, Congress promised the state 103 million acres of land, a commitment he said has yet to be fulfilled.
Under a series of federal statutes, Alaska had the right to select 103 million acres of vacant, unappropriated, and unreserved land for state ownership, but could not select land that the Department of the Interior had withdrawn for utility and transportation purposes, including the Dalton Highway corridor.
Instead, Alaska used a “topfiling” process to identify land that was not available for selection due to federal restrictions, including corridor lands.
When the Department of the Interior removed the protections, the land was automatically selected for transfer to Alaska. After the federal government pre-approved the transfer of 1.35 million hectares in May, the title vested in the state.
This proved fatal to the nonprofits’ claims because the 11th Amendment bars private parties from suing a state in federal court.
“Alaska’s immunity has not been waived or abrogated, so this case brings it back within the scope of that immunity,” Peterson said. “Therefore, the question is not whether Alaska has immunity. It does. The question is whether that immunity prevents this case from proceeding not only against Alaska but also against the Interior, and if so, which of the lands at issue.”
Since the Department of the Interior has not previously approved and transferred ownership of the remaining 700,000 acres to Alaska, and a challenge to their transfer is not barred by state sovereign immunity, the judge denied the motion to dismiss with respect to those lands.
“Alaska has fought hard to secure access to the lands we were promised in the state,” Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement. “I’m happy to see this land finally return to Alaskan control, and I’m grateful for the tireless efforts of Alaskans who made it possible.”
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