The Biden administration recently announced that they are moving to suspend all oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge pending additional review of the environmental impacts of drilling. But this is just a temporary stoppage, and Congress needs to act to protect the Arctic Refuge for the long haul.
John — The Biden administration recently announced that they are moving to suspend all oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge pending additional review of the environmental impacts of drilling. But this is just a temporary stoppage, and Congress needs to act to protect the Arctic Refuge for the long haul.
If all or at least a part of the infrastructure package being discussed passes through reconciliation (which means it will only need 50 votes in the Senate), there’s an opportunity to include a provision to permanently stop plans to sell drilling rights in the Arctic Refuge without needing Republican support.
Opportunists have been trying to drill in ANWR for years, claiming that it would lead to mounds of revenue. Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration pushed the measure through in 2017 – also via reconciliation – hoping to capitalize on that promised income. But in reality, the rights to drill have been sold at a fraction of what was promised.
The Arctic Refuge is over 30,000 square miles, the largest national wildlife refuge in the country. Defiling that land would have catastrophic impacts on the ecosystem and our climate. It would devastate critical wildlife habitat and desecrate the land where Native people like the Gwich'in live and hunt.
And burning fossil fuels extracted from ANWR would only accelerate the climate crisis, while protecting it would help preserve an important carbon sink.
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