Continuing its Arctic Plunder, Trump Administration Strips Protections in Western Arctic Reserve

The Department of the Interior has gutted protections for millions of acres of ecologically and culturally significant lands known as “Special Areas” in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (“Reserve”) in Alaska’s Western Arctic. A previous regulation generally protected these lands from leasing and industrialization, affording the required “maximum protection” for their extraordinary values. Defenders of Wildlife condemns the repeal of crucial protections for the lifeblood of both the region’s wildlife and the communities of the Western Arctic. 

“The Special Areas rule defined and drilled into practice Interior’s legally required conservation responsibilities in the Reserve—responsibilities that apply most forcefully in Special Areas that BLM has already identified as needing maximum protection,” said Nicole Whittington Evans, Defenders of Wildlife’s senior director for Alaska and Northwest programs. "The Trump administration is doing nothing but recklessly plundering our public lands and wildlife and sacrificing wildlife habitat to benefit oil industry friends that aim to keep us dependent on fossil fuels."