John,
The Western Arctic Reserve is the largest, most intact stretch of public land in the United States. Supporters like you have fought tirelessly to keep this one-of-a-kind place from being sacrificed to the fossil fuel industry. Now the reserve and its wildlife need your help again.
Oil giant ConocoPhillips, the company behind the massive Willow drilling project, just asked the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for permission to conduct a seismic exploration program in the reserve this winter. The exploration will inform the company’s future drilling plans, beyond Willow.
Step up to protect the Arctic wild from this reckless program.
Seismic exploration in the reserve would fracture the Western Arctic with massive trucks and camps, all in search of oil. Convoys of massive “thumper” trucks weighing almost 100,000 pounds could soon roll in, sending earth-shaking vibrations deep underground, through fragile tundra habitat near where polar bears den — which could scare off mothers and leave cubs abandoned — and caribou seek refuge for the winter.
The program would also put terrible pressure on a fragile ecosystem. With the Arctic warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, rubberstamping massive fossil fuel projects and oil extraction there is the last thing we need.
The science is clear. To avoid irreversible climate devastation, the Biden administration must end all new oil and gas projects in the reserve and immediately begin phasing out production. The Arctic simply can’t take more fossil fuel development.
Tell the Biden administration to reject ConocoPhillips’ proposal for a seismic exploration program in the Western Arctic Reserve.
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