Case Summary
The League of Women Voters of Alaska (LWVAK) filed an amicus brief supporting several Alaskan youths who asserted the state’s development of a liquified natural gas (“LNG”) project would worsen climate change and damage the state’s natural resources. The plaintiffs argued that because of the effects of fossil fuels emissions, the state’s approval of the project would damage its fishing and hunting grounds, among other assets, in violation of the state constitution, which requires the government to preserve and manage the state’s resources for the public trust.
Alaska’s constitution includes several provisions requiring the state government to manage its natural resources as part of its public trust obligations and to protect the right of the people to access such resources. Among these protections are:
- Alaska Const. Art. 8 §3 - A requirement that fish, wildlife and the state waters are reserved for the people’s common use.
- Alaska Const. Art. 8 §4 - A requirement that fish, forests, wildlife, grasslands, and all “replenishable resources” must be utilized, developed, and maintained on the “sustained yield” principle, subject to beneficial uses being preferred
- Alaska Const. Art. 8 §15 - A ban on exclusive rights or special privileges on fisheries, with some regulations by the state allowed.
- Alaska Const. Art. 8 §17 - Uniform application of laws on natural resources.
In 2014, the Alaska Legislature passed SB 138, which directed the Alaska Gasline Development Corporation to develop the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Project ("Alaska LNG Project"), which would drill for natural gas on the North Slope of Alaska on the Arctic Circle and then transport it via pipeline to the southern coast of Alaska for processing and export. Other points along the pipeline would allow local communities to access the gas for their use. The provisions of SB 138 at issue are codified as Alaska Statutes § 31.25.005(1) and § 31.25.005(5).
On May 22, 2024, ten individual plaintiffs filed a state court lawsuit in the Superior Court in the Third Judicial District at Anchorage, asserting the development of the Alaska LNG project violated several sections of the Alaksa constitution that protected the rights of future generations to use and enjoy the state resources, sustainable use of natural resources, and due process, by exacerbating climate change which would damage such resources and deprive future Alaskans of a life-sustaining climate system.
On March 10, 2025, the trial court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The ruling stated that the request to block the Alaska LNG Project was a political issue that should not be decided by the courts. In the court’s opinion, the multiple questions and interests involved in the use and conservation of natural resources were better left to the legislature and executive branches to resolve. The plaintiffs then appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court requesting it issue a preliminary injunction against the LNG project and enjoin defendants from transferring the project to private parties for starting construction and operations.
On June 11, 2025, the League of Women Voters of Alaska (“LWVAK”) and four state legislators filed an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs and requesting the superior court’s decision be reversed. The brief argued that the lower court had erred in its application of the political question doctrine, and that, taken to its furthest conclusion, any issue with multiple questions and interests would be too political for the courts to resolve. LWVAK and its co-amici also argued that judicial review played an important role in informing the legislature and executive branches on what they could do within the bounds of the state constitution when formulating policy.
LWVAK and its co-amici were represented in this matter by Bessenyey & Van Tuyn, LLC.
LWV Timeline
Plaintiffs file complaint
Several youth plaintiffs file a state court lawsuit, asserting that state laws allowing the construction of the Alaska LNG Project violated the state constitution by exacerbating climate change and damaging their right to use and enjoy Alaska’s natural resources. The plaintiffs also assert that the project violates their right to a climate system that can sustain human life and dignity.
Trial court dismisses case
The trial court dismisses the case, ruling that plaintiffs’ claims are political questions that should be resolved by the legislature and executive. The ruling also refuses to declare that plaintiffs have a right to a climate system that can support human life.
LWVAK files amicus brief
The League of Women Voters of Alaska and four state legislators move to file an amicus brief asking the state supreme court to reverse the dismissal of the case.
State supreme court accepts amicus brief
The state supreme court grants the League of Women Voters of Alaska’s motion to file an amicus brief.