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We are extremely disappointed in this ruling today,” said Geoffrey L. Haskett, president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. The BLM has held a flawed public process based on political pressure, not science. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should never be open for leasing, exploration, or drilling. We will continue to fight for the Arctic Refuge and to stop any attempts to destroy this pristine landscape, which will be the result should oil and gas extraction take place.
Last night, under pressure from both sides of the aisle and with unemployment benefits lapsing and a government shutdown looming, President Trump signed the huge, 5,000+ page omnibus bill/COVID relief bill into law. This bill was passed last week by both chambers of Congress, and we have been waiting on news that the President would sign it into law.
The director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is an extremely important position, one which oversees the entire National Wildlife Refuge System. For the first three years of the Trump Administration, no director was nominated or confirmed by the Senate, which had a major impact on operations, staff morale, and partner organizations. The person who takes on this job will need to address challenges with a collaborative, science-based approach to conservation and climate change.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association congratulates Representative Deb Haaland (NM-1) on her historic nomination as Secretary of the Interior. We are thrilled to welcome Rep. Haaland to this position, for which she is uniquely qualified and well prepared. As the vice chair of the Natural Resources Committee and chair of the Public Lands Subcommittee, she has been instrumental in implementing conservation policy during her tenure in Congress.
The National Wildlife Refuge System, which is administered by the Interior Department, manages 850 million acres of lands and waters. The System stretches from the islands of the Pacific Ocean to the 16 refuges in Alaska, throughout the 20 million acres in the Lower 48, to the underwater canyons and seamounts of the Atlantic and the sunny beaches and lush forests of the Caribbean. These lands and waters are the largest protected area for wildlife on Earth, and yet are drastically underfunded and understaffed.
We look forward to working with Rep. Haaland, who will be the first Native American ever to hold the position of Interior Secretary. The Refuge System by its very nature adjoins tribal lands, contains sacred sites, and provides habitat for native plants and wildlife that people depend upon, particularly in the Southwest and Alaska. We are extremely pleased to have a Secretary who values and treasures the wildlife of all Refuge System lands and waters, and will protect it for all generations of Americans.
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate voted in veto-proof numbers to pass the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which protects the Desert National Wildlife Refuge in southern Nevada for the next 25 years. This bill is the result of several months of negotiations between the two chambers of Congress in conference, and keeps the previous military boundaries within the Desert NWR intact.
Today, the Bureau of Land Management stated that they are going to hold a lease sale for oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on January 6, 2021. Ever since the creation of the Arctic Refuge 60 years ago, oil and gas companies have been lobbying for access to this protected land. This step to hold a lease sale is the formal opening of the Arctic Refuge for development for the first time in history.
