Urge Our Senators Co-Sponsor the Stop the Arctic Ocean Drilling Act

From the Alaska Wilderness League (http://www.alaskawild.org):

Twenty-eight years ago, the Exxon Valdez oil spill coated 1,300 miles of Alaska’s coastline, destroying lives and decimating populations of fish, marine mammals, and birds alike. Since then, we have seen several devastating spill disasters in US waters, and numerous narrow escapes.

Unless we learn from our past mistakes, we could easily face an Exxon Valdez-sized disaster in our Arctic Ocean.

Please go to http://act.alaskawild.org/sign/noexxon2017 to urge Senate leaders to prevent an Arctic Ocean oil spill by co-sponsoring the bill to keep the Arctic Ocean off-limits to oil drilling. This bill will be introduced soon, so your note can help build a strong list of co-sponsors. Consider reinforcing your message by a call—find contact information:

• Senator Robert Casey: http://casey.senate.gov
• Senator Pat Toomey: http://toomey.senate.gov

After a slow, inadequate response to the Exxon Valdez spill, Exxon then spent two decades fighting Alaskans in court, seeking to reduce the damages they owed to Alaskans…all while company execs like now-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raked in millions in personal profits. In short, every part of Exxon’s response took too long, and was too little compared to the damages they created.

Furthermore, sea ice makes things complicated for spill response. A natural gas pipeline supporting offshore drilling operations in Cook Inlet has been leaking unchecked for months. The company responsible, Hilcorp, stated that “broken ice, exacerbated by high tidal flows and limited daylight” make it too dangerous to send divers to fix the leak at this time. Yet, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) still talk as though “responsible development” in the Arctic Ocean could happen. We know better.

Tell Senate leaders there’s no such thing as responsible drilling – a spill in the Arctic Ocean would be a tragedy for Alaska’s coastal communities and the creatures that thrive in its waters.

P.S. Many of you probably remember that thanks to your voices, President Obama left strong protections for the Arctic Ocean in place. However, President Trump has indicated interest in Arctic drilling and stacked his administration with oil and corporate interests more interested in profits than preventing the next oil spill. To build on the protections President Obama put in place and fight attacks from Trump administration, Congress must take action to keep the Arctic Ocean safe.