We need the strongest possible protections for the Arctic
- by: Earthjustice
- recipient: Bureau of Land Management
The Biden administration proposed protections against future fossil fuel development across Alaska's Arctic lands, including 13 million acres in the Western Arctic. There is an open comment period that gives us the opportunity to advocate for stronger protections. Join Earthjustice, the premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization, to urge the administration to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the climate impacts of Western Arctic oil development.
The region represents a critical last refuge for wildlife and provides sustenance and spiritual connection for Indigenous people. Fossil fuel development in this irreplaceable ecosystem spoils habitat, risks oil spills, and unleashes even more climate-wrecking emissions.
The administration's actions will establish important safeguards against new fossil fuel threats in the region. But more action is needed. The door is still open to fossil fuel projects including the Willow Project and other developments in the Western Arctic that could extract billions of barrels of oil in the coming years.
If this administration is serious about fighting climate change, it must take action to limit new fossil fuel development in the areas of the Western Arctic that remain vulnerable. This should begin with a climate analysis to get a realistic measure of how extracting and burning this Arctic oil would worsen the climate crisis, as a first step toward aligning management of the Reserve with federal commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2030.
Send a message to the Biden administration about the urgency to finalize the region's protections and develop robust measures to protect the Western Arctic from future Willow projects.
The region represents a critical last refuge for wildlife and provides sustenance and spiritual connection for Indigenous people. Fossil fuel development in this irreplaceable ecosystem spoils habitat, risks oil spills, and unleashes even more climate-wrecking emissions.
The administration's actions will establish important safeguards against new fossil fuel threats in the region. But more action is needed. The door is still open to fossil fuel projects including the Willow Project and other developments in the Western Arctic that could extract billions of barrels of oil in the coming years.
If this administration is serious about fighting climate change, it must take action to limit new fossil fuel development in the areas of the Western Arctic that remain vulnerable. This should begin with a climate analysis to get a realistic measure of how extracting and burning this Arctic oil would worsen the climate crisis, as a first step toward aligning management of the Reserve with federal commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2030.
Send a message to the Biden administration about the urgency to finalize the region's protections and develop robust measures to protect the Western Arctic from future Willow projects.
RE: BLM-2023-0006-0001, RIN 1004–AE95
Dear Bureau of Land Management:
I am opposed to oil and gas development in the Western Arctic. Such development would be incompatible with meeting urgently needed commitments to address the climate crisis. To demonstrate climate leadership and meet our commitments, the nation needs to move rapidly away from burning fossil fuels. There is no room for expansion, particularly in the Arctic, where oil would not come to market for years. The huge infrastructure build-out required would lock us into reliance on fossil fuels, while bringing further stress to a region feeling climate effects even more acutely than lower latitudes. I urge the administration to take measures to bring its management of the Western Arctic in line with its commitment to address the climate crisis.
The proposed regulations are a step in the right direction but do not go far enough. They offer important incremental protections for some of the Western Arctic's most ecologically and culturally important areas, such as Teshekpuk Lake, an internationally vital wetland critical for birds from around the globe and for caribou herds that are integral to Alaska Native communities in the region. However, they do not do enough to address the most imminent threat to the region and the planet—the over two million acres of existing oil leases in the Western Arctic that this administration inherited. Development on these existing leases threatens the sensitive habitat of the Western Arctic and the nation's ability to meet its climate goals.
The current environmental analysis of the Western Arctic, written in the previous administration, fails to study the impact oil development in the region would have on the climate and the nation's ability to rapidly reduce its reliance on fossil fuels to meet climate goals. We urge the administration to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the climate impacts of Western Arctic oil development, and to bring its management of the region in line with climate policy by expanding its proposed regulations to require limits on drilling on the millions of acres already leased to oil companies to protect the climate and the fragile resources of the region already under severe strain from climate change.
Sincerely,
[Name]
Sign PetitionSign PetitionDear Bureau of Land Management:
I am opposed to oil and gas development in the Western Arctic. Such development would be incompatible with meeting urgently needed commitments to address the climate crisis. To demonstrate climate leadership and meet our commitments, the nation needs to move rapidly away from burning fossil fuels. There is no room for expansion, particularly in the Arctic, where oil would not come to market for years. The huge infrastructure build-out required would lock us into reliance on fossil fuels, while bringing further stress to a region feeling climate effects even more acutely than lower latitudes. I urge the administration to take measures to bring its management of the Western Arctic in line with its commitment to address the climate crisis.
The proposed regulations are a step in the right direction but do not go far enough. They offer important incremental protections for some of the Western Arctic's most ecologically and culturally important areas, such as Teshekpuk Lake, an internationally vital wetland critical for birds from around the globe and for caribou herds that are integral to Alaska Native communities in the region. However, they do not do enough to address the most imminent threat to the region and the planet—the over two million acres of existing oil leases in the Western Arctic that this administration inherited. Development on these existing leases threatens the sensitive habitat of the Western Arctic and the nation's ability to meet its climate goals.
The current environmental analysis of the Western Arctic, written in the previous administration, fails to study the impact oil development in the region would have on the climate and the nation's ability to rapidly reduce its reliance on fossil fuels to meet climate goals. We urge the administration to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the climate impacts of Western Arctic oil development, and to bring its management of the region in line with climate policy by expanding its proposed regulations to require limits on drilling on the millions of acres already leased to oil companies to protect the climate and the fragile resources of the region already under severe strain from climate change.
Sincerely,
[Name]
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