Court Opinion

ID: 9943473
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-23 17:01:34.963112+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:47:03.535555
License: Public Domain

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                                 FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

    ALASKA INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT
    AND EXPORT AUTHORITY,
                                                                Case No. 23-cv-3126 (JMC)
                            Plaintiff,

          v.

    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, et
    al.,

                            Defendants.

                                         MEMORANDUM OPINION

         In late 2021, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) sued

President Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Bureau of Land

Management (BLM) in the District of Alaska, challenging the Biden Administration’s “temporary

halt on all Department activities related to the [Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing] Program” in

the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. See AIDEA v. Biden (AIDEA I), No. 3:21-cv-00245

(SLG), 2023 WL 5021555, at *3 (D. Alaska Aug. 7, 2023). 1 Under this temporary moratorium,

Plaintiff could not make use of the seven leases it had acquired for gas and oil exploration in the

Refuge and was forced to wait while Defendants conducted “supplemental environmental review

aimed at correcting alleged legal deficiencies” in the “underlying record supporting the leases.”

Id. at *3–4. The District of Alaska rejected the AIDEA’s challenge, concluding that it was “well

1
  Unless otherwise indicated, the formatting of citations has been modified throughout this opinion, for example, by
omitting internal quotation marks, emphases, citations, and alterations and by altering capitalization. All pincites to
documents filed on the docket in this case are to the automatically generated ECF Page ID number that appears at the
top of each page.

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within DOI’s authority to issue leases pursuant to the Program and to pause lease implementation

to address legal errors that could lead a federal court to reject the Program.” Id. at *25.

       The AIDEA now sues the DOI and BLM again, this time in the District of Columbia, and

this time challenging Defendants’ recent decision to cancel the leases after “determin[ing] that the

leases were improperly issued due to pre-leasing legal defects.” ECF 11 ¶ 39. While Defendants

have already filed an answer and administrative record, ECF 20; ECF 18, they have also moved to

transfer this action to the District of Alaska, arguing that the situs of Plaintiff, Plaintiff’s prior

lawsuit, and the Refuge itself is the superior forum, ECF 7. This Court agrees. Despite the

AIDEA’s contrary position, ECF 10, it makes little sense to adjudicate this matter in a forum to

which Plaintiff has no connection when the subject matter of the lawsuit sits in another state, on

the other side of the continent, and where a court has already ruled on a similar dispute involving

these very Parties.

       As such, and for the reasons set out below, the Court will GRANT the Government’s

motion to transfer to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska.

I.     BACKGROUND

       The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a federally protected wildlife area spanning

approximately 18.9 million acres of land in the northeast corner of Alaska. Gwich’in Steering

Comm. v. Bernhardt, No. 3:20-cv-00204 (SLG), 2021 WL 46703, at *1 (D. Alaska Jan. 5, 2021)

(citing 16 U.S.C. § 3101 et seq.). Within the Refuge, approximately 1.5 million acres bordering

the Beaufort Sea are designated as the Coastal Plain, an area which Congress has long recognized

as a region with potential for “oil and gas exploration, development, and production.” 16 U.S.C.

§ 3142 (codifying Section 1002 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

                                                  2
(ANILCA), Pub. L. 96-487 (Dec. 2, 1980)). 2 For decades, however, the actual production of oil

and gas from the Refuge was prohibited, and “no leasing or other development leading to

production of oil and gas from the range [would] be undertaken until authorized by an Act of

Congress.” Id. § 3143.

         In 2017, Congress passed such an Act authorizing (and in fact mandating) an oil and gas

program in the Refuge. In Section 20001(b)(2)(A) of Public Law 115-97, otherwise known as the

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Congress instructed the Secretary of the Interior to “establish and

administer a competitive oil and gas program for the leasing, development, production, and

transportation of oil and gas in and from the Coastal Plain.” Over the next three years, the DOI

issued a final environmental impact statement, published a Record of Decision, and opened up

competitive bidding for various tracts of land on the Plain. ECF 11 ¶¶ 18–19. Several

environmental organizations filed suit in the District of Alaska to enjoin the leasing program, but

none were successful. See, e.g., Gwich’in Steering Comm., 2021 WL 46703, at *1 (single order

denying preliminary injunction motions in “three [separate] actions” brought by distinct plaintiffs);

State of Washington v. Haaland, No. 3:20-cv-00224 (SLG) (D. Alaska) (similar lawsuit filed

September 9, 2020, but with no motion for preliminary injunction). The lease sale occurred on

January 6, 2021, as planned. AIDEA I, 2023 WL 5021555, at *2. Three bidders took part, id.,

including the AIDEA—a public corporation created by the Alaskan legislature to “promote,

2
 The Court cannot help but acknowledge that the exact boundaries of the Coastal Plain have been a topic of confusion
and controversy. While ANILCA defined the Coastal Plain as the “area identified as such in the map entitled ‘Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge,’ dated August 1980,” 16 U.S.C. § 3142(b)(1), that 1980 map has been missing for decades.
Congress has relied on new maps since the loss of the original, see CRS Report RL33872, Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge (ANWR): An Overview at 7 & n.32 (citing CRS Report RS22326, Legislative Maps of ANWR), but these new
maps have raised concerns for some, see, e.g., Felicity Barringer, Arctic Map Vanishes, and Oil Area Expands, N.Y.
TIMES (Oct. 21, 2005). That said, the 2017 law at the center of this dispute leaves no doubt that the Coastal Plain is
now defined by reference to two new, presumably extant maps “dated October 24, 2017.” See Pub. L. 115-97, Section
20001(a) (stating that these maps are “on file with the United States Geological Survey and the Office of the Solicitor
of the Department of the Interior”).

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develop, and advance the general prosperity and economic welfare of the people of the state,”

Alaska Stat. §§ 44.88.020, 44.88.070. After bids were reviewed, the AIDEA was awarded the

opportunity to enter lease agreements for nine tracts of land and chose to enter agreements for

seven (two tracts went to the remaining two bidders). AIDEA I, 2023 WL 5021555, at *2; ECF 11

¶¶ 19–20. However, this victory was short lived.

        Two weeks after the AIDEA was awarded its leases, the Coastal Plain Program came to a

halt. On January 20, 2021, under a new presidential administration, the DOI revisited the Program

to investigate its concerns that the prior environmental impact statement was insufficient and that

the issuing of leases was unlawful. AIDEA I, 2023 WL 5021555, at *2–3. Pending supplemental

environmental review, the DOI announced a “temporary moratorium” on the Program, during

which it would suspend all leases and associated operations. Id. at *3. With the long-term viability

of these newly awarded leases in question, the BLM gave lessees an opportunity to cancel their

leases and receive refunds of their bids. Id. Two bidders took that deal, but the AIDEA declined,

choosing instead to try its luck in the courts. Id. at *3, *17.

        On November 4, 2021, after failing to obtain authorization from the DOI to proceed with

oil and gas exploration pursuant to the Program leases, the AIDEA sued President Biden, the DOI,

and the BLM in the District of Alaska to challenge the temporary moratorium. Id. at *3. According

to the AIDEA, Defendants had no authority to suspend these leases, and their decision to do so

was contrary to the Tax Act’s mandate to establish an oil and gas program on the Coastal Plain.

Id. at *5–6. The District of Alaska viewed the statutory scheme differently, reading the Tax Act as

a “broad grant of authority” for the Agency to administer the Program, “provided it does so in

accordance with all applicable federal laws.” Id. at *9. While the court had no moment to decide

“whether Agency Defendants ha[d] the authority to cancel [the] leases,” id. at *25 (emphasis

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added), it expressly rejected the notion that it was somehow “invalid” for the DOI to suspend the

leases in order to consider doing exactly that, id. at *14. The District of Alaska acknowledged that

the Tax Act had some specific guidelines (e.g., two deadlines for lease sales), but found “no

indication” in the statute that the DOI lacked the “authority to correct administrative errors,”

particularly given “the limited nature of a leasehold interest in [public] lands.” Id. (citing Boesche

v. Udall, 373 U.S. 472, 476, 478, 485 (1963)). After giving due consideration to the AIDEA’s

myriad arguments, the District of Alaska rejected all of them, granting summary judgment to the

federal defendants. Id. at *29.

        Not long after the District of Alaska’s ruling, the DOI (perhaps predictably) cancelled the

seven leases held by the AIDEA, and the AIDEA filed suit in this Court shortly thereafter. ECF 1

(original complaint filed October 18, 2023). The AIDEA alleges that the DOI’s decision to cancel

the leases violates the Tax Act’s mandate, that the lease termination is disproportionate to the

alleged legal defects of the environmental record undergirding the leases, and that the DOI failed

to provide the AIDEA with due process prior to cancellation. See, e.g., ECF 11 ¶¶ 48–50, 54, 60,

66, 73. Defendants now move to transfer this case to the District of Alaska, arguing that this

action’s acute impact on the Alaskan environment and economy, the relevance of the prior

litigation, and Plaintiff’s strong ties to Alaska (and lack of ties to D.C.) all support transfer. ECF 7.

Plaintiff opposes, pointing to the national importance of the Refuge, the distinct agency action at

issue in this case, and the involvement of high-level DOI officials in Washington, D.C. ECF 10.

After reviewing the Parties’ briefs, the Court is prepared to rule on the motion.

II.     LEGAL STANDARD

        Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), this Court may, “[f]or the convenience of parties and

witnesses, in the interest of justice . . . transfer any civil action to any other district or division

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where it might have been brought.” A party moving for such a transfer bears the burden of

establishing that its proposed venue is appropriate. SEC v. Savoy Indus., Inc., 587 F.2d 1149, 1154

(D.C. Cir. 1978). That is, the moving party must establish that the action “might have been

brought” in that venue and that transferring the action there would, on balance, “prevent the waste

of time, energy, and money and . . . protect litigants, witnesses, and the public against unnecessary

inconvenience and expense.” Van Dusen v. Barrack, 376 U.S. 612, 616 (1964). To that end, the

decision of whether to transfer an action, which falls “within the broad discretion of the district

court,” is guided by a set of private interest and public interest factors. Virts v. Prudential Life Ins.

Co. of Am., 950 F. Supp. 2d 101, 104 (D.D.C. 2013) (citing Van Dusen, 376 U.S. at 622).

III.    ANALYSIS

        The Court finds that transfer to the District of Alaska is warranted. For starters, there is no

dispute that this case could have been brought in the District of Alaska. ECF 10 at 4; ECF 14 at 2.

The Refuge—i.e., the “property that is the subject of the action” per the terms of Plaintiff’s

cancelled leases—is situated in Alaska. See 28 U.S.C. § 1391(e)(1)(B). And even if this action

were characterized as one that does not involve real property, Plaintiff resides in Alaska. See id.

§ 1391(e)(1)(C); ECF 1 ¶ 3. Granted, the Court acknowledges, and the Parties agree, venue is

proper in the District of Columbia as well. ECF 10 at 4; ECF 14 at 2. Between these two forums,

however, the superior forum for this action is the one where the subject matter of the dispute is

located, where local interests are uniquely affected, where Plaintiff resides, and where related

litigation has occurred and, indeed, is ongoing. That is to say, upon review of the public interest

and private interest factors relevant to transfer, the Court finds that the DOI has met its burden in

establishing that transfer to the District of Alaska would further the interests of justice and promote

efficiency and convenience.

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    A. Public Interest Factors

        The Court will first explain why the proposed transfer is in the public interest. There are

three primary public interest factors courts regularly consider: (1) the local interest in having

controversies decided “at home,” (2) the transferee’s familiarity with the parties, facts, and

governing law, and (3) the relative congestion of the transferee and transferor’s dockets. See Trout

Unlimited v. U.S. Dep’t of Agric., 944 F. Supp. 13, 16 (D.D.C. 1996). The Court will take each of

these factors in turn.

        First, with regard to “[p]erhaps the most important factor in the motion-to-transfer

balancing test,” see Alaska Wilderness League v. Jewell, 99 F. Supp. 3d 112, 116 (D.D.C. 2015),

the State of Alaska has a significant and uniquely local interest in having this controversy

adjudicated “at home.” If it were not clear by now, the Refuge is located in Alaska, and therefore

any decisions regarding oil and gas exploration in the region will have acute economic and

environmental impacts in Alaska. Plaintiff is spot on in its assertion that the “Refuge is

unquestionably of national rather than just local significance,” ECF 10 at 11, but “there is no

blanket rule that ‘national policy’ cases should be brought in the District of Columbia” either,

Alaska Wilderness League, 99 F. Supp. at 117 (quoting Starnes v. McGuire, 512 F.2d 918, 928

(D.C. Cir. 1974)).

        Nor is it clear that this action is best characterized as a “national policy” case in the first

place. Recently, this Court denied a motion to transfer a dispute involving federal land located

outside the District of Columbia, but it did so in large part because the case presented “a [threshold]

legal question with the potential to affect the administration of national [land] throughout the

country.” Wilderness Workshop v. Harrell, No. 23-cv-678 (JMC), 2023 WL 3879505, at *3

(D.D.C. June 8, 2023). No such question arises here. The AIDEA is challenging only “the

                                                  7
[cancellation] of [its] specific . . . development lease[s],” which were issued pursuant to a specific

law exclusively applicable to a specific parcel of land “that happens to be located [thousands] of

miles outside the District of Columbia.” Seafreeze Shoreside, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, No.

21-cv-3276 (CRC), 2022 WL 3906934, at *6 (D.D.C. June 27, 2022); see Raju v. Jaddou, No. 22-

cv-02308 (APM), 2023 WL 5321888, at *3 (D.D.C. Apr. 7, 2023) (“[W]hile there is national

interest in USCIS’s policies, there is no national interest in the applications of these particular

plaintiffs.”). “Moreover, even accepting that this case touches upon some national concerns, it is

beyond cavil that the [Program] most directly affects Alaskan lands [and] livelihoods.” Alaska

Wilderness League, 99 F. Supp. 3d at 117.

       Plaintiff’s choice to bring this suit belies its suggestion that the State of Alaska is not

uniquely interested in this case’s outcome. Of course, environmental groups have “recognized the

national significance” of issues relating to the Refuge, ECF 10 at 11–12, and Congress has done

the same, see 16 U.S.C. § 3101 (emphasizing the “national significan[ce]” of “certain lands and

waters in the State of Alaska”). But the AIDEA does not even purport to act on behalf of national

interests—it acts exclusively “to promote, develop, and advance the general prosperity and

economic welfare of the people of the state,” Alaska Stat. § 44.88.070 (emphasis added). The

AIDEA’s multiyear effort to jumpstart the Coastal Plain Program is a testament to the Program’s

importance to the Alaskan people. The fact that “most of the oil and gas extracted in Alaska is

transported elsewhere,” ECF 10 at 12, “does not turn [this] otherwise local controversy into a

‘national’ one,” Seafreeze Shoreside, Inc., 2022 WL 3906934, at *6. Nor does it overcome the

courts’ general preference to resolve cases involving environmental regulation impacting lands,

waters, and wildlife “in the forum where the people ‘whose rights and interests are in fact most

vitally affected’ reside.” Id. When it comes to this case, those people clearly reside in Alaska.

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        Second, given the multiple prior lawsuits in the District of Alaska challenging the DOI’s

administration of its Coastal Plain Program under the Tax Act, it is clear that the transferee court

has relevant “knowledge of the parties and facts” that favors transfer. See Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v.

Nat’l Indian Gaming Comm’n, 731 F. Supp. 2d 36, 40 (D.D.C. 2010). The AIDEA’s prior (and

still pending3) action in the District of Alaska alone provides a strong basis for transfer. The

District of Alaska has already passed on several questions relevant to the AIDEA’s present

challenge: the scope of the DOI’s discretion to provide for an oil and gas program under the Tax

Act, the DOI’s environmental conservation responsibilities under ANILCA, the breadth of the

DOI’s authority to “correct its own errors,” and the intersection between the DOI’s management

power over public lands and the “limited nature of a leasehold interest in such lands.” AIDEA I,

2023 WL 5021555, at *9–11, *14–15. Plaintiff may disagree with the District of Alaska’s prior

judgment and can seek to distinguish it in this litigation, see ECF 23-2, but that does not render it

irrelevant.

        Without a doubt, the DOI’s decision to cancel rather than suspend the leases is a new

agency action, but it strains reason to suggest that the AIDEA’s lawsuits challenging these two

decisions “bear only a marginal relationship” to one another. Contra ECF 10 at 14–15. As Judge

Sharon L. Gleason stated herself, “it appears that Plaintiffs are seeking from the D.C. District Court

much the same relief that th[e] [District of Alaska] previously denied them.” Order Denying

Motion to Alter Judgment and Motion to Vacate at 13, AIDEA I, 2023 WL 5021555, ECF 97.

Granted, it is “well settled that no federal court is more competent than any other to resolve

questions of federal law,” Oceana v. Bureau of Ocean Energy Mgmt., 962 F. Supp. 2d 70, 78

3
  In denying the AIDEA’s motion for relief from final judgment and motion to vacate, the District of Alaska found
that “th[e] case is not moot.” See Order Denying Motion to Alter Judgment and Motion to Vacate at 13, AIDEA I,
2023 WL 5021555, ECF 97 (entered Feb. 22, 2024); see also Motion for Relief from Final Judgment, AIDEA I,
2023 WL 5021555, ECF 84 (filed Oct. 17, 2023, one day before the Complaint in this action).

                                                        9
(D.D.C. 2013), and this case involves nothing but federal questions. But the fact that the District

of Alaska has yet to rule on the legality of this precise agency action does not invalidate its

experience with earlier lawsuits involving similar legal issues and repeat litigants. Nor can this

Court ignore the four (presently stayed) lawsuits that challenge the legality of the same Coastal

Plain Program leasing actions that the AIDEA now hopes to reinstate. Gwich’in Steering Comm.

v. Haaland, No. 3:20-cv-00204 (SLG) (D. Alaska); Nat’l Audubon Soc’y v. Haaland, No. 3:20-

cv-00205 (SLG) (D. Alaska); Native Vill. of Venetie Tribal Gov’t v. Haaland, No. 3:20-cv-00223-

SLG (D. Alaska); State of Washington v. Haaland, No. 3:20-cv-00224 (SLG) (D. Alaska). The

past litigation, ongoing post-judgment proceedings, and this new action all relate to oil and gas

exploration on the Coastal Plain and the regulation thereof. As such, the District of Alaska’s

familiarity with the Parties, facts, and law involved “weighs heavily in favor of transfer.” Cf. Ysleta

del Sur Pueblo, 731 F. Supp. 2d at 41.

       Finally, the relative congestion of the two districts’ dockets does not clearly push in either

direction. The Government points out that there are nearly 200 more cases per judgeship in this

District than in the District of Alaska, ECF 7 at 15–16, while Plaintiff responds that the two

districts resolve cases pre-trial at a similar rate, ECF 10 at 27. At most, the Court finds that the

greater case burden per judgeship in this District slightly favors transfer, but this factor plays a

minor role in the Court’s analysis. In sum, despite the AIDEA’s insistence otherwise, this Court

finds that the interests of justice and judicial efficiency strongly favor transfer to the District of

Alaska. The Court now turns to the private interest factors.

   B. Private Interest Factors

       Any private interest considerations of party convenience and the like, to the extent they

weigh against transfer, are insufficient to overcome the strong public interest in transfer. Private

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interest factors include: “(1) the plaintiff’s choice of forum, unless the balance of convenience is

strongly in favor of the defendants; (2) the defendants’ choice of forum; (3) whether the claim

arose elsewhere; (4) the convenience of the parties; (5) the convenience of the witnesses of the

plaintiff and defendant, but only to the extent that the witnesses may actually be unavailable for

trial in one of the fora; and (6) the ease of access to sources of proof.” Trout Unlimited, 944 F.

Supp. at 16. Considerations regarding convenience and access to evidence are, as the Parties seem

to agree, inconsequential in this case, which will be resolved on cross-motions for summary

judgment based on an administrative record. See id. at 18 (citing Fla. Power & Light Co. v. Lorion,

470 U.S. 729 (1985)); ECF 7 at 21; ECF 10 at 24–25. With factors four through six written off as

effectively neutral, the Court will briefly consider the weight of the Parties’ choices and the

location from which this claim arose.

       The AIDEA would prefer to have this suit heard in Washington, D.C., and the Court is

mindful of Plaintiff’s choice. But while a plaintiff’s choice “is generally given deference in

determining whether a transfer of venue is justified, less deference is given to a plaintiff’s choice

when that choice is not plaintiff’s home forum.” Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, 731 F. Supp. 2d at 42; see

also Niagara Pres., Coal., Inc. v. FERC, 956 F. Supp. 2d 99, 104 (D.D.C. 2013) (collecting cases).

Washington, D.C., as Plaintiff acknowledges, is not the AIDEA’s “home state.” ECF 10 at 25. The

AIDEA is a public corporation created by the State of Alaska, based in Alaska, which acts only to

promote the welfare of those in Alaska. It has no ties to Washington, D.C. As such, the AIDEA’s

decision to file suit in the District of Columbia carries less weight, particularly where, as here,

“transfer is sought to the forum with which plaintiff[] ha[s] substantial ties and where the subject

matter of the lawsuit is connected to that state.” Trout Unlimited, 944 F. Supp. at 17. Indeed, in

                                                 11
such circumstances, not only does Plaintiff’s choice receive less deference, but “the showing

defendants must make [to support transfer] is [also] lessened.” Id. (emphasis added).

        Moving to the next factor, the Parties dispute whether this claim is better characterized as

arising out of conduct in Alaska or Washington, D.C., and perhaps for good reason. Although this

case has substantial ties to Alaska, it is by no means disconnected from Washington, D.C. As

Plaintiff alleges and Defendants admit, “DOI Secretary Haaland personally announced the Lease

Cancellation Decision at a press event on or about September 6, 2023 and DOI Secretary

Beaudreau signed the decision” while working from “DOI’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.”

ECF 11 ¶ 11; ECF 20 ¶ 11. While Defendants deny that the actual decision-making occurred in

Washington, D.C., ECF 11 ¶ 10; ECF 20 ¶ 10, Plaintiff points out that the DOI’s own press release

indicates that “Secretary Haaland personally made the decision,” ECF 10 at 5; see also id. at 38

(press release stating that “Secretary Haaland has determined that the leases issued by the previous

administration in the Arctic Refuge shall be cancelled”). However, “the cases make clear that

signing and promulgating are not magic acts that somehow transform a transferable case into an

un-transferable one,” Alaska Wilderness League, 99 F. Supp. 3d at 116, and the Court is not

persuaded that Secretary Haaland’s alleged degree of involvement is substantial enough for this

factor to tip the scales against transfer.

        Make no mistake, the Court takes seriously the allegations that high-ranking DOI officials

in Washington, D.C. were involved in the challenged action and has reviewed the caselaw Plaintiff

cites in support of the proposition that “[c]ourts routinely deny motions to transfer from the District

of Columbia when agency heads are involved in the underlying decision that impacted the land

outside the district.” Conserve Sw. Utah v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, No. 21-cv-1506 (ABJ),

2022 WL 20700168, at *6 (D.D.C. Sept. 7, 2022); see also Wilderness Soc’y v. Babbitt, 104 F.

                                                  12
Supp. 2d 10, 14 (D.D.C. 2000) (transfer denied where Secretary’s “involvement in the DOI’s

review of the impact of oil and gas leasing on the environment . . . was far from routine”). But

Secretary Haaland’s alleged involvement, which is evidenced only by a press release and her

appearance at a media event, ECF 11 ¶¶ 10–11, is just one of several factors, virtually all of which

support transfer here. Put differently, even assuming that this private interest consideration

supports Plaintiff, the overall circumstances of this case are distinguishable from the cases Plaintiff

relies upon in which transfers were denied. See, e.g., Wilderness Workshop, 2023 WL 3879505, at

*5 (“Here, there are no analogous parallel proceedings.”); Defs. of Wildlife v. Salazar, No. 12-cv-

1833 (ABJ), 2013 WL 12316872, at *3 (D.D.C. Apr. 11, 2013) (“Not only do five of the six

plaintiff organizations have offices in Washington, D.C., but Washington, D.C. serves as

headquarters of lead plaintiffs in the two consolidated cases.”); Fund For Animals v. Norton,

352 F. Supp. 2d 1, 2 (D.D.C. 2005) (“First, and most importantly, this Court has a long history

with the facts and law surrounding this case and the prior litigation.”); Wilderness Soc’y, 104 F.

Supp. 2d at 14 (“Plaintiffs also demonstrate that they have significant ties to the District of

Columbia.”); Conserve Sw. Utah, 2022 WL 20700168, at *5–6 (noting that “two Plaintiffs are

residents in this District . . . three others have offices in the District of Columbia” and “three of

the five defendants in this case[] oppose the motion [to transfer]”).

IV.     CONCLUSION

        At bottom, whatever dispute remains over whether the claim is best described as arising in

D.C. or Alaska, the overwhelming weight of the public interest factors, Plaintiff’s lack of

connection to this District, and Plaintiff’s substantial connections to the transferee district persuade

this Court that transfer is appropriate. Therefore, for the foregoing reasons, Defendants’ motion to

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transfer venue to the District of Alaska, ECF 7, is GRANTED. A separate order accompanies this

memorandum opinion.

       SO ORDERED.

                                                  __________________________
                                                  JIA M. COBB
                                                  United States District Judge
Date: February 23, 2024

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