The state of Alaska on Wednesday sued the Biden administration over restrictions the federal government imposed in December on oil and gas leases in the Arctic set for auction this week.

The lawsuit alleges the restrictions, issued in December by the Interior Department, violate the provisions of the 2017 tax reform package that mandates the sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Biden administration announced the sale would cover the smallest possible acreage allowed under the law, 400,000 acres.

The state’s lawsuit argued that the administration’s restrictions in the refuge’s coastal plain would make the acreage “impossible or impracticable to develop.” The filing asks the U.S. District Court in........

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