| The Trump administration and Congress have waged an all-out assault on the Arctic this year, including: |
- Opening all 1.56 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain to oil and gas drilling
- Reinstating 370,000 acres of unlawful oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge
- Stripping special protections from ecologically sensitive areas in the Western Arctic
- Preparing to adopt an expansive new management plan that would open 82% of the Reserve — the largest tract of public lands in the U.S. — to oil and gas drilling
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| These plans would make a sustainable future for the Arctic impossible, and over 76,000 Earthjustice supporters have already submitted comments opposing these proposals. |
| With the administration's blessing, fossil fuel companies are ramping up exploratory drilling and seismic work: |
| The Trump administration has also approved drilling and seismic exploration work this winter that will cause serious and potentially irreparable harm. The 90,000-pound vehicles industry uses to explore the tundra can leave deep scars across the landscape and disrupt critical caribou migration patterns, harming mothers and calves. |
| Lease sales are on the way, too. Over the next 10 years, the budget Trump’s allies passed in Congress mandates four lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (at least 400,000 acres each) and five lease sales in Western Arctic (at least 4 million acres each). |
| We are fighting back: Earthjustice has spent decades fighting in court to keep oil and gas interests from destroying the Arctic. |
| Since our founding 50 years ago, Earthjustice has gone to court to defend the Arctic from environmentally disastrous oil and gas projects. My team has fought dozens of cases to protect the Arctic, and we’ve successfully stopped attacks like this before: |
- We stopped the Peregrine drilling project and are still in court fighting the Trump administration’s environmental shortcuts for lease sales.
- We’ve protected countless acres of Alaska wilderness from pipelines, drilling, and other destructive projects.
- We blocked the first Trump administration from opening 128 million acres of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans to offshore drilling.
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| And we are not slowing down in our work to loosen the fossil fuel industry's destructive grip on our world: |
| Just this month Earthjustice filed a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s all-out assault on Arctic lands. Representing conservation groups and an Alaska Native organization, we are suing the administration for approving ConocoPhillips’ plans to industrialize some of the most sensitive and important wildlife areas in the Western Arctic. |
| We can’t win this fight alone. |
| We are honored to work alongside our clients and partners in Alaska, whom we rely on for their guidance and expertise. In every case, we represent our clients free of charge, so we rely on donors like you to help fund our lawsuits. |
| Together, we are powerful enough to stand up to the Trump administration. If you can donate today, your support will help us fight back and protect the Arctic. What we raise by December 31 will help us scale up for the fights ahead. |
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Our planet cannot afford the explosion of new fossil fuel infrastructure Trump envisions. Anything you give today will be tripled to help us scale up and fight back — for the sake of our communities, our planet, and our future.
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| As always, thank you for your partnership in our fights to protect the arctic. |
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Sincerely,
Erik Grafe
Deputy Managing Attorney
Earthjustice Alaska Office |
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