Defending The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge From Oil And Gas Drilling
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to an incredible array of biodiversity. The Arctic NWR is one of the few places on Earth where polar, brown (grizzly), and black bears coexist.
Porcupine caribou in Arctic NWR, AK | Danielle Brigida / USFWS
More than 200 species of birds depend on the Arctic NWR during their annual migrations. Every winter, migratory birds travel from the Arctic NWR to every state and territory in the United States, and some even venture to other continents!
Other migrants include the hundreds of thousands of caribou roaming the Arctic NWR. The survival of the indigenous Gwich’in people depends on the large Porcupine Caribou Herd, which returns to the wildlife refuge’s Coastal Plain each spring to calve and raise their young. The Arctic NWR also provides essential habitat for wolves, muskoxen, and a multitude of other species of wildlife, large and small.
The Threat
Scars from seismic exploration from the 1980s can still be seen today in the Arctic NWR, AK | USFWS
There’s been a push to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ever since the refuge was created. Pro-drilling forces found a powerful ally in the Trump Administration and they did all that they could to expedite lease sales on the Coastal Plain. Fortunately, the Arctic NWR won a temporary reprieve in June of 2021 when Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland suspended the oil leases, pending review under the National Environmental Protection Act.
Despite this temporary suspension, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still very much threatened. A provision in the 2017 tax cut bill signed by former President Trump mandated oil and gas leasing take place in a northern section of the refuge. Although the environmental review should take years to complete, the threat remains omnipresent despite agreement from experts that oil and gas development in this area would permanently and irreversibly disrupt the ecological integrity of the refuge and the livelihood of the Gwich’in people.
Our Solution
Buff Breasted Sandpiper wing waving to females in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, AK | Sharon Cummings
The National Wildlife Refuge Association remains ready to challenge every effort to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We will vigorously support legislation to repeal any law that allows drilling in the Arctic NWR, starting with the provision in the Trump Administration’s 2017 tax bill that mandates oil and gas leasing.
While the threat to the Arctic NWR is greater than it has ever been, the National Wildlife Refuge Association has been fighting for decades to keep the Arctic NWR closed to oil and gas development – and we have no intention of backing down now from our determination to preserve one of the last truly great wilderness areas in the world.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge belongs to all Americans and its protection of wildlife and habitat has a global impact. This shared resource must not be irreversibly exploited to profit a select few.
News
The congressionally mandated second lease sale for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Arctic Refuge) was a total failure, with no bids received. This development reaffirms what has always been true: the Arctic Refuge is a place where wildlife and people come first, not drilling. For time immemorial, the Gwich’in and other Indigenous Peoples have depended on this land, and it remains a sanctuary for caribou, muskoxen, polar bears, millions of migratory birds, and countless other species. The future of the Arctic Refuge lies in its continued protection and stewardship— not as a site for exploitation.