Help Close the Door on Risky Arctic Drilling
Big news! The Obama Administration has cancelled 2 upcoming lease sales for oil drilling in the Arctic. This comes after Shell's announcement that it is giving up on Arctic drilling for the foreseeable future. This is great news for the bowhead whales, walruses, ice-dependent seals and other wildlife species that could have been devastated by an oil spill in this remote region.
But there's still more work to do to protect Arctic waters from the threat of offshore drilling!
In the coming months, the Obama Administration will decide whether to sell new oil leases in the Arctic Ocean as part of an upcoming leasing program. Let's not go down that road again.
Join Ocean Conservancy in calling on President Obama not to go forward with any new lease sales in the Arctic Ocean.
Dear President Obama,
Thank you for cancelling proposed lease sale 237 in the Chukchi Sea and proposed lease sale 242 in the Beaufort Sea to drill for oil in the U.S. Arctic Ocean. Now, it's time for your administration to take the next step and cancel any plans to sell new oil and gas leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort Sea.
I also urge you not to include any new Arctic lease sales in the upcoming leasing program for 2017 to 2022.
Arctic waters provide vital habitat for iconic wildlife such as walruses, ice-dependent seals, bowhead whales, and migratory birds. Many residents of coastal communities in the region depend on a healthy ocean to support their subsistence way of life. Both people and wildlife are already coping with stresses from a rapidly changing climate, including rapid loss of summer sea ice.
Given the oil industry's retreat from the Arctic -- and the risks of Arctic drilling -- there's no reason to hold new lease sales in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Instead, this administration should drop all Arctic leases from the upcoming 2017 to 2022 five-year program. With all that's at stake in the Arctic, it is time to call a halt to risky Arctic leasing.
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Sincerely,
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