The Teshekpuk Lake wetlands complex, one of the most important habitats in the entire Arctic, is threatened by a proposed ConocoPhillips oil development—the Willow Master Development Plan.
Significant portions of the project would be located within the irreplaceable Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, which has been protected for decades due to its significance for nesting Yellow-billed Loons, molting geese, polar bears, and caribou.
Urge the Department of the Interior to reject the misguided and harmful Willow oil development project to protect this irreplaceable and fragile area.
To the Department of the Interior:
ConocoPhillips' proposed Willow Master Development Plan in the Arctic would have catastrophic ecological and cultural implications. It would significantly undermine our nation's climate strategy, with more than 287 million metric tons of carbon dioxide added into the atmosphere over the next 30 years. The project would also cause other carbon to be released by melting permafrost quickened by hundreds of miles of roads and pipelines.
I am deeply concerned by the direct threat to birds and wildlife in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, a globally important habitat within the boundaries of the Reserve. Yellow-billed Loons, Spectacled Eiders, Dunlins, and other vulnerable species like migrating caribou and polar bears rely on the Arctic's largest lake and surrounding wetlands complex for food and protection. We must help protect them and listen to the Indigenous communities, scientists, policy makers, and citizens advocating for the denial of this project.
The Department of the Interior must consider the local, national, and global ramifications of the project's significant greenhouse gas emissions and the severe consequences for countless birds and wildlife.
I urge you to deny this project by choosing the "No Action" Alternative.
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Thank you.
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