Published on August 7 on PennLive: http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017/08/pa_benefits_from_the_arctic_na.html
By Sandra Strauss
The U.S. House Budget Committee followed President Trump’s lead and introduced its version of a 2018 federal budget that includes a plan to collect revenues from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Not only will this ill-conceived proposal not balance the federal budget–it will cause immeasurable injury to one of our most pristine gifts of God’s creation.
Proponents of “energy independence” have long fought for drilling in the Arctic Refuge, but it remains controversial for good reason.
In the past 30 years, Congress has voted nearly 50 times on whether or not to drill in the Arctic Refuge, yet our nation’s largest and wildest refuge remains protected today thanks to the overwhelming support of the American people–including people of faith. A recent study by the Center for American Progress shows that two-thirds of Americans oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge, and a majority is “strongly opposed.”
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska seems far away, but really, it touches all of us. Each summer, birds use the Arctic Refuge to nest, raise young, feed, or rest. Where do they go next?
Pennsylvania. That’s right – many birds that begin their lives on the Refuge migrate through our backyards, like the Lapland Longspur.
In addition to migratory birds, the Refuge supports an impressive diversity of arctic and subarctic wildlife, including two caribou herds – the Porcupine Caribou Herd and the Central Arctic Caribou Herd.
The Porcupine Herd in particular depends on the Refuge’s Coastal Plain, where calving occurs from late May to mid-July. All three species of North American bears – black, polar and grizzly – live on the Refuge. The Arctic Refuge contains the most important land denning habitat for U.S. polar bears in the entire Alaskan Arctic.
What’s more, protecting the Arctic Refuge is a human rights issue. The Gwich’in people have lived in the Arctic Refuge region spanning from Alaska to Canada for millennia.
The word “Gwich’in” means “people of the land,” and their lives and culture are entwined with the fate of the Porcupine Caribou Herd. In Alaska, the Gwich’in reside in nine communities along the migration route of the herd.
I was honored to lobby alongside members of the Gwich’in Nation during a trip to Washington, DC last year. I heard firsthand from Gwich’in mothers and grandmothers as they worked to protect their entire culture, now left in the hands of Congress.
For thousands of years, the Gwich’in people have regarded the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge as “Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit” or “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins,” because it is the birthing and nursery grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd.
These rights are a part of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states, “by no means shall a people be deprived of their own means of subsistence.” The Porcupine Caribou Herd is the foundation for the social, economic and spiritual fabric of the lives of the Gwich’in people.
Some say that we need the oil to assert our “energy dominance.” This is a short-sighted strategy and one that does not mesh with American values. We pride ourselves on our parks, lands and wildlife – and don’t want to sell our public lands off to corporate interests.
Any drilling in the Arctic Refuge would only reduce our gas prices by a few pennies per gallon–but it would destroy a national treasure and its wildlife and people forever.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-8th District, has introduced a bill to protect the Arctic Refuge and its sensitive Coastal Plain and the people and wildlife that depend on it.
Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Reps. Dwight Evans, Brendan Boyle, Michael Doyle, Matthew Cartwright are co-sponsors on this bill, and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., also supports it on the Senate side. I urge the remaining members of the Pennsylvania delegation to add their support as well by co-sponsoring the Arctic Refuge Wilderness bill.
God has given us this land to protect and preserve. The Gwich’in speak often about how their elders tell them to go out in the world and live “a good way.” We should follow their example and ensure justice for God’s planet and God’s people.
The Rev. Sandra Strauss is director of Advocacy & Ecumenical Outreach for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. She is a graduate of Lancaster Theological Seminary and is ordained as Minister of Word and Sacrament with the Presbyterian Church.
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