In September, we celebrated the news that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland had canceled the last remaining Trump-era oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which were held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA). With the cancellation of those leases, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) also issued a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for public comment, as required by the so-called Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The Draft SEIS attempts to correct flaws in the Trump-era EIS for the oil and gas leasing program on the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain, triggering a public comment period that runs through November 7, 2023. Wilderness Watch strongly opposes all oil and gas activities on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. We recognize that a leasing program is required by law, but more has to be done to protect the coastal plain from oil and gas development. Now we need you to—once again—raise your voice to protect the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge from oil and gas drilling! Submit your public comment by November 7 at this link: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2015144/570/8003942/comment Write in your own words, but please try to include the following points in your comments: |
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- I oppose all oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Lasting protection for the refuge will only come if President Biden works with Congress to repeal the "Tax Act" provision that opened the Refuge to oil and gas leasing, and to pass permanent protections through Wilderness designation for the entire 19.2 million-acre Arctic Refuge.
- Oil leasing and development would destroy the wild quality of both the coastal plain and adjacent designated Wilderness lands in the Arctic Refuge. The Draft SEIS fails to truthfully explain what would be lost by opening the Arctic Refuge to oil leasing and development.
- I thank the Biden administration for canceling the existing leases in the Arctic Refuge.
- There is not enough protection for onshore denning habitat for polar bears. The Draft SEIS is inconsistent in protecting polar bear denning habitat, protecting some habitat but leaving some vulnerable, especially for denning sows and cubs. Stronger protections are needed for both the Canning River delta and the Camden Bay area.
- Even under the most protective alternative put forth, “no surface occupancy” (NSO), stipulations are broad and undefined, and there still appear to be loopholes that would allow for infrastructure and development. If NSO stipulations are meant to provide protections for leased tracts, they must be well-defined and unwaivable in the Draft SEIS.
- The coastal plain is a sacred place to the Gwich’in Nation, and the Draft SEIS fails to acknowledge the cultural harms caused to the Gwich’in people by the oil and gas leasing program.
- The alternatives set forth in the Draft SEIS do not grant strong enough protections to the Porcupine caribou herd, upon which the Gwich’in Nation relies for cultural survival and food security.
- BLM should look at the caribou migration route through a lens of climate change, and consider how caribou habitat in the Arctic Refuge will change in the coming decades. Oil and gas activity will likely impact changing migration routes and habitat for the Porcupine herd.
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Help us protect the Arctic Refuge and Wilderness around the country. A generous member has pledged to DOUBLE all first-time donations up to $30,000 this year. |
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