Tell the BLM—No Drilling in the Arctic Refuge

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

Our most pristine wilderness is in jeopardy.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has just put forth plans that would usher drilling into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain. Drilling would scar the land and endanger currently protected wildlife, and we have just over a month days to stop it.

Tell the Bureau of Land Management to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=30423.

Exactly one year after Congress initially opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for oil, the BLM released its draft of the environmental impact statement.¹ The reason for this hasty job is clear: A comprehensive review would come to a simple conclusion — oil and wildlife do not mix.

The statement included four proposed scenarios for oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Two of the proposals would open two-thirds of the 1.5 million acre coastal plain, the other two would allow industrial oil development throughout the entire refuge.²

Totaling 19.6 million acres, the Arctic Refuge is home to some of the most diverse and stunning populations of wildlife in the Arctic. The coastal plain — the exact area proposed for oil development — is the biological heart of the entire Refuge.

Birds from all 50 states migrate to the coastal plain every summer. Polar and grizzly bears roam the frozen earth and ice. The Porcupine caribou herd, essential to the native Gwich’in people of Alaska and Canada, spend weeks each spring grazing and calving in the coastal plain.³

Oil drilling in the coastal plain would put all of that at risk, and has been described as “ecocide on an incredible diversity of wildlife.”⁴ Scientists have voiced concerns that seismic work that accompanies drilling for oil could cause permanent damage to the tundra, and harm or kill already vulnerable polar bears.⁵

The public comment period is our opportunity to make our voices heard to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and its wildlife from drilling.

Submit your public comment today.

We know that we are louder together, which is why we need to submit as many public comments as possible. The country has rallied to protect the Arctic Refuge as a wildlife refuge before. Now we need to stand together once again to keep it safe. And now we need your comment to help us put a stop to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge once more.

At a time when renewable energy and clean transportation options are on the rise, it makes no sense to destroy one of America’s most pristine wild areas for last century’s fuel.

Act now to keep drilling out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

1. Henry Fountain, “Interior Dept. Moves Toward Selling Oil Leases in Arctic Refuge,” The New York Times, December 20, 2018.
2. Henry Fountain, “Interior Dept. Moves Toward Selling Oil Leases in Arctic Refuge,” The New York Times, December 20, 2018.
3. Joel K. Bourne, Jr. “This Refuge May Be the Most Contested Land in the U.S.,” National Geographic, June 2018.
4. Finis Dunaway, “Arctic Drilling Is “Ecocide on an Incredible Diversity of Wildlife,” Truthout, November 29, 2018.
5. Henry Fountain, “Interior Dept. Moves Toward Selling Oil Leases in Arctic Refuge,” The New York Times, December 20, 2018.