Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Polar Bears on the Auction Block

The Bureau of Land Management announced today that it will hold an oil and gas lease sale on January 6 for the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation’s premier national wildlife refuges. This destructive, unlawful sale will giveaway one of America’s last great wildlands to the highest bidder, offering up almost the entire 1.5 million-acre coastal plain for fossil fuel development, including huge expanses of federally designated denning critical habitat essential for the threatened Southern Beaufort Sea (SBS) population of polar bears. The SBS population is one of the most imperiled polar bear populations on the planet and has declined dramatically in recent years. 
 
Jamie Rappaport Clark, Former president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, issued the following statement:  
 
“Today we put the oil industry on notice. Any oil companies that bid on lease sales for the coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should brace themselves for an uphill legal battle fraught with high costs and reputational risks. Defenders will not stand by as the government despoils lands sacred to Indigenous people, wipes out one of the most imperiled polar bear populations in the U.S. and industrializes the crown jewel of the national wildlife refuge system.”