The decades-long battle to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska has reached a milestone as yet another major oil company pulls its lease to drill for oil in the sensitive Coastal Plain ecosystem. Regenerate Alaska is now the third company to abandon its lease in addition to Chevron and Hilcorp who did less than a week earlier.

Closeup of a caribou with snow on its nose from foraging for lichens | Kent Miller / NPS

The abandonment of these leases to extract natural resources in the Crown Jewel of the National Wildlife Refuge System demonstrates a steadily growing consensus to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for its innate ecological value and for the resources it provides to not just the wildlife, but also the Gwich’in people who call this national wildlife refuge home.

In a 2019 Yale Program on Climate Change Communication study, it was found that a majority of American voters (67%) oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Any oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would only amount to a drop in the bucket. According to the EIA, the amount of recoverable oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would only make up 3-tenths of 1 percent of world oil and would only reduce U.S. imports by an estimated 1%.

Flowers in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge | USFWS

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, like all 568 national wildlife refuges that make up the National Wildlife Refuge System, belongs to each and every American. The refuge is a shared resource, and an integral part of our nation’s conservation heritage.

Ever since the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was set aside for protection in 1960, it has enjoyed broad bipartisan support from the American people. It is up to all of us to ensure our Arctic Refuge remains permanently protected to safeguard the irreplaceable landscapes that its wildlife call home. The National Wildlife Refuge Association will never stop fighting to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.