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Arctic Refuge by Fran Mauer, USFWS

Arctic Refuge in Grave Peril

In late December, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its plan for opening the 1.5 million-acre Coastal Plain of our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil leasing and development. We urge you to let the BLM know that oil drilling has no place in the Arctic Refuge! Comments are due March 13.

The 20 million-acre Arctic Refuge is unparalleled in its wild grandeur, ecological wholeness, and vast scale. Polar bears, caribou, muskoxen, wolves, Dall sheep, brown bears, wolverines, arctic foxes, and more than 200 bird species depend on the refuge for survival. Nearly all of the refuge is designated Wilderness or recommended for wilderness designation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

In late 2017, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and the Trump administration deviously circumvented normal lawmaking procedures to attach an amendment to the Tax Cut bill that not only opens the Coastal Plain to oil drilling, but also requires at least two oil lease sales on the Refuge's coastal plain before 2027.

Now, more than ever, your help is needed to keep America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wild! Please voice your opposition to oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge. 

Submit your comment on BLM's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS): http://bit.ly/2UT8SrU. Put "Comments on Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Draft EIS" in the subject line. NOTE: There's no need to put anything in "chapter reference" or "section reference."

We encourage you to write in your own words, but consider including the following points in your comment letter:

  • Oil leasing and development would destroy the wild quality of both the Coastal Plain and adjacent designated Wilderness lands in the Arctic Refuge. The DEIS fails to truthfully explain what would be lost by opening the Arctic Refuge to oil leasing and development.
  • The DEIS fails to describe how oil leasing and development would destroy the Arctic Refuge's ecological integrity which has flourished since the beginning of time.
  • The DEIS fails to fully assess the significant impacts oil leasing and development would have on caribou, especially when caribou are most vulnerable to disturbance—during critical times of calving and raising young.
  • Oil leasing and development on the Coastal Plain would cause caribou populations to decline, which would have significant ramifications over a vast area of Alaska and Canada, and these effects would persist beyond the estimated 130 years of exploitation. The DEIS fails to address this reality and its effects on indigenous people.
  • The DEIS significantly underestimates the amount of carbon pollution that oil leasing and development would add to atmosphere, and fails to truthfully address the implications of exacerbating the climate crisis.
  • Fresh water is relatively limited on the Refuge Coastal Plain, however the DEIS does not adequately assess the impacts that industry's water use would have on fish and wildlife.
  • The DEIS does not thoroughly assess the cumulative effects of oil leasing and development within the Refuge and with current and expanding development across the North Slope and offshore in the Arctic region.
  • The DEIS fails to fulfill the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and therefore BLM cannot authorize leasing.

You can also mail comments to:
BLM, Alaska State Office
Attention—Coastal Plain EIS
222 West 7th Avenue, #13
Anchorage, AK 99513-7599

Read the Draft EIS.

Thank you for taking action to help protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge!

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Photo: An aerial photo census of the Porcupine caribou herd counted over 60,000 caribou along the Niguanak River. By Fran Mauer/USFWS. 

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