For decades, oil and gas interests and their friends in Congress fought to open the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas development. In 2017, they gained significant ground.That year, Congress passed a backdoor provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that allowed the Trump administration to begin the process for leasing vulnerable refuge lands to oil companies.
The Arctic Refuge is now facing a pivotal moment. Even as the climate crisis is causing the Arctic to warm at rates higher than any other place on Earth, there is still counting pressure to drill here.
Oil development would bring roads, airstrips, heavy machinery, noise and pollution. This would damage the refuge’s fragile tundra ecosystem and disrupt age-old migration and denning patterns for caribou, polar bears and other animals. It would also contribute to the climate crisis with more oil production in a time when it is not needed and we should be thinking of alternative approaches to fuel our lives and our economy.
While the threat to the refuge is higher than ever, the fight is not over. Working alongside Indigenous partners, we are making great strides by advocating for permanent protection of this special place, going to court against the administration, successfully applying pressure on major banks to reject financing for drilling, and building a huge base of public support.
Through vivid storytelling and sharing of experiences, we are making the Arctic Refuge “real” to people who have never visited it, and helping them understand that it is not some mythical, faraway place, but a real landscape that belongs to everyone and that must be protected in the interest of Indigenous rights and climate protection. We all have a moral obligation to stand up and keep it from being destroyed.
