Tell Our Senators to Vote for the Arctic Refuge Protection Act

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

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to protect Arctic wildlife from destructive drilling. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn.

With a bipartisan vote, the House passed the Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act, which will end the rush to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.¹

Go to https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=34691 to tell our U.S. senators to pass their equivalent: the Arctic Refuge Protection Act (S 2461) of 2019.

The 20-million-acre Arctic Refuge is home to a vast diversity of wildlife, from tiny pygmy shrews to massive polar bears. More than 200 species of birds, from all 50 states and beyond, fly to and through the refuge.²

And all this wildlife is directly in the path of oil and gas companies eager to start drilling in the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain, which Congress opened up for bidding two years ago. That would mean heavy, loud machinery scarring the landscape and driving polar bears, seals, caribou and other wildlife from their homes.³

The Arctic Refuge Protection Act would prevent this disaster. The bill would permanently protect the refuge by declaring it a wilderness area and thus block oil and gas leasing, development, production and transportation in the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain — effectively ending the threat of drilling there for good.⁴

The House has passed this vital legislation — now it’s time for the Senate to also protect the Arctic. Tell your senators to protect Arctic wildlife.

Humanity has already scarred or encroached upon so much of this planet, but the Arctic Refuge is still a pristine, wild place. If we let it be destroyed for a little more oil and gas, there’s no getting it back. We need to send a powerful message to Congress to make sure that doesn’t happen.

1. “H.R.1146 — Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act,” Congress.gov, accessed September 19, 2019.
2. “Arctic Wildlife & Habitat,” U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, accessed September 18, 2019.
3. Jennifer A Dlouhy, “Trump’s Plan for Finding Oil in Alaska May Put Polar Bears at Risk,” Bloomberg, June 10, 2019.
4. “S.2461 — Arctic Refuge Protection Act of 2019,” Congress.gov, accessed September 18, 2019.