October 3, 2012, Juneau, Alaska – The State of Alaska filed in U.S. Federal District Court in Alaska to stop enforcement of the federal government's policy to impose an emission control area (ECA) over a broad swath of ocean off Alaska's coast.

The ECA was adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with no Alaska-specific air testing or monitoring.

“The ECA, if allowed to stay in force, would require marine vessels to use expensive low-sulfur fuels to reduce emissions, increasing the cost of goods and fuel in Alaska,” said Governor Parnell. “The EPA’s ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach is unsupported by proper science and modeling in Alaska, and fails to consider and balance impacts on Alaskans. We will ask the court to intervene to try to stop this federal drag on Alaskans and our economy.”

The State described impacts for the court such as: increased costs for goods bought each year by Alaskans that pass through the Port of Anchorage; increased costs of transporting Alaska oil to the West Coast that will likely cost the State tens of millions of dollars in revenue; and lost jobs, sales, and revenue from redeployment of cruise ships.

The filed brief and affidavit can be read here.