We must protect the Arctic from further fossil fuel development
The Biden administration recently canceled a set of illegal leases for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and has opened a comment period that gives us the opportunity to advocate for stronger protections in Alaska's Arctic lands. Join Earthjustice, the premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization, in advocating for stronger protections for the Arctic.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's Coastal Plain is vital calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd, a sacred place for the Gwich'in people who have relied on the herd for millennia. It is vital to polar bears, which increasingly rely on the terrestrial maternal denning sites it provides.
As in the rest of the Arctic, climate change is wreaking havoc on the rhythms of life in the refuge, which is warming faster than the rest of the world. Expanding oil leasing into the refuge will exacerbate these stresses, cause irreparable harm to this irreplaceable region, and to the millions of birds and other animals that migrate there every summer from around the world, and undermine urgent action to address the climate crisis.
Send a message to the Biden administration about the urgency to finalize the region's protections and develop robust measures to protect the Arctic from further fossil fuel development.
RE: DOI-BLM-AK-0000-2021-0006-EIS, Draft Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
Dear Bureau of Land Management:
Thank you for taking steps toward protecting the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge by canceling oil leases issued unlawfully by the prior administration.
I continue to oppose development in the coastal plain, and I call on the Biden administration to do more to firmly protect the Arctic.
Please develop an alternative that maximally protects the coastal plain from future oil leasing. The area is vital calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd, a sacred place for the Gwich'in people who have relied on the herd for millennia. It is vital to polar bears, which increasingly rely on the terrestrial maternal denning sites it provides. As in the rest of the Arctic, climate change is wreaking havoc on the rhythms of life in the refuge, which is warming faster than the rest of the world. Expanding oil leasing into the refuge will exacerbate these stresses, cause irreparable harm to this irreplaceable region, and to the millions of birds and other animals that migrate there every summer from around the world, and undermine urgent action to address the climate crisis.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
[Name]
