News
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Today, the Bureau of Land Management stated that they are going to hold a lease sale for oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on January 6, 2021. Ever since the creation of the Arctic Refuge 60 years ago, oil and gas companies have been lobbying for access to this protected land. This step to hold a lease sale is the formal opening of the Arctic Refuge for development for the first time in history.
The lame-duck Trump Administration is expected to issue a “request for nominations” to purchase leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as soon as Monday. Even with oil prices at record lows and with the results of the recent Presidential election clear, this Administration is charging forward with plans to fast-track oil and gas development before they leave office in 68 days.
Since taking office in January 2017, President Donald Trump has made environmental deregulation and habitat destruction one of the hallmarks of his presidency. From the clear-cutting of national wildilfe refuge lands along the US/Mexico border, to the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas development, to the support for expansion of the military even further into the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, we have seen a constant and unrelenting disregard for long-standing conservation principles.
This week is Polar Bear Week - a great way to celebrate this iconic, magnificent, and unfortunately threatened species. Prior to my current job as the President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, I served as the Alaska Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As part of that job, I was appointed by both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama as the United States Polar Bear Commissioner.
This month, the Bureau of Land Management released their Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program--the plan to drill in the irreplaceable wilderness of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. BLM has selected the most aggressive of their four options, meaning they have chosen to not exclude some areas in order to protect biological and ecological resources. Ironically, this proposal was released the same day as the Senate released their wilderness bill, and a day before the House voted to restrict drilling in the Refuge completely.
Just now, the House has voted 225-193 to pass H.R. 1146, to prohibit oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We are thrilled that the House has acknowledged the importance of this landscape. We will continue the fight in the Senate and beyond to ensure that oil and gas drilling never happens in the Arctic Refuge.
