Alaskan villagers sue to stop ConocoPhillips development

Development: ConocoPhillips operations in Alaska

AP/SCANPIX

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News Wires

 01 March 2013 07:38 GMT

Residents of an Inupiat Eskimo village on Alaska's North Slope are suing the US government in an effort to overturn a crucial permit allowing a ConocoPhillips oilfield near their homes.

According to a Reuters report, the lawsuit was filed late on Wednesday in US District Court in Anchorage. It challenges a wetlands-fill permit issued in 2011 that would allow ConocoPhillips to build a road, bridge and above-ground pipeline connecting its CD-5 prospect to existing oilfield facilities.

The plaintiffs are seven residents of Nuiqsut, a village of 428 people about 14.5 kilometres south-east of the CD-5 prospect.

"This project will add a bridge, road and traffic to one of our most important fishing and hunting areas," Reuters quoted one of the plaintiffs, Sam Kunaknana,…

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