Environmental Review Underscores Grave Threat to National Treasure

The Department of the Interior released today its second report detailing the devastating impacts of transforming the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge into an oilfield. Defenders of Wildlife joins the Gwich’in peoples in calling for an end to the leasing program.

This final supplemental environmental impact statement was required after the Department of the Interior found that the initial environmental review under the Trump administration contained “multiple legal deficiencies” including “insufficient analysis” required by several environmental laws. 

“Industrializing the coastal plain would bring irreparable harm to caribou, polar bears and other wildlife, and threaten the cultural and spiritual existence of the Gwich’in people,” said Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska senior program director for Defenders of Wildlife. “We again call upon Congress to repeal this reckless mandate and restore protections to the Refuge.”

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Dr. Pablo Clemente-Colon/NOAA

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act mandated the first-ever oil and gas lease sales in the Refuge in 2021 and 2024, despite strong opposition from the Gwich’in people and most Americans. The Gwich’in consider the coastal plain “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins” because it is home to the calving grounds for the Porcupine caribou herd upon which they depend. As it stands today, no drilling has taken place on the coastal plain. The first sale was wildly unsuccessful, generating no interest from the oil industry and less than 1% of projected sale revenue. The few leases sold were either relinquished by the purchasers or canceled by the Biden administration.