U.S. conservation groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's recent approval of Hilcorp's Liberty project, the first offshore oil drilling development in federal Arctic waters.

Hilcorp's project envisions the construction of a nine-acre artificial gravel island in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea, about 20 miles east of Prudhoe Bay and about five miles off the coast.

The proposed project includes the development of a mine-site to supply gravel for the construction of the LDPI, construction of the island and ice roads, and installation of an undersea pipeline that reaches shore from the Liberty Drilling and Production Island and then connects to the existing above-ground Badami pipeline.

The facility would be similar to the four oil-and-gas-producing artificial islands currently operating in the area's state waters: Spy Island, Northstar Island, Endicott Island, and Oooguruk Island.

Conservation groups, led by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging the Trump administration's approval of the project, claiming the project risked oil spills in the sensitive Beaufort Sea and threatened polar bears and Arctic communities.

The groups say the Liberty approval violated federal laws and ignores the causes and effects of climate change. “The project is in the heart of polar bear habitat,” the groups said.

“Ironically, construction of the Liberty project has already been delayed by a lack of stable shoreline sea ice in the rapidly warming Arctic region. The past five years have been the hottest on record, the administration announced this month, as the Arctic heats up at twice the global warming rate. Climate change is driven by excessive fossil fuel consumption,” the statement by Earthjustice reads.