JUNEAU, Alaska — A federal judge in Alaska on Tuesday ruled the Biden administration lacked the authority to cancel seven oil and gas leases that had been issued for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason said terms of a 2017 tax law that set the stage for the first-ever lease sale in the refuge’s coastal plain in early 2021 suggested that leases could only be canceled by a court order. She sent the matter back to the Department of Interior for further action.

President Donald Trump upon his return to office in January signed an Alaska-specific executive order that among other things had sought to rescind the lease cancellation.

The tax law called for two lease sale offerings by late 2024 in the refuge’s coastal plain, a roughly 1.5 million acre swath of the vast refuge. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state corporation, was the major bidder in the first sale, which was held in the waning days of the first Trump administration. Small companies won two other leases but gave them up.

— The Associated Press