Sullivan Hopes to Lease the Arctic Refuge by 2019

Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska wants to see the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge put up for sale in 2019 – two years earlier than mandated by the recent tax bill that ignominiously opened this treasured area to drilling. Speaking at an oil industry conference in Houston, Sullivan reportedly stated, “It’s my hope, and this is a very aggressive timeline, that we would have the first lease sale ... to be sometime in 2019.”

Statement from Defenders of Wildlife’s Director of Federal Lands Peter Nelson:

“We continue to fight any and every attack on the Arctic refuge, including egregious attempts to drill in one of our nation’s most vital landscapes. Sullivan and the Trump administration’s rush to drill completely ignores the hundreds of species, including polar bears, caribou and migratory birds that depend on the Arctic refuge, runs roughshod over conservation laws and curtails public input in the environmental review process. These irresponsible actions will be met with fierce opposition in the courts and from the public.

“Expediting a 2019 lease sale in the Arctic refuge is a non-starter, as any development in these treasured wild lands is totally unacceptable given the social, environmental and cultural values at stake. Alaskans and all Americans need to understand what oil drilling would really mean: the destruction of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”