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| Dear Friend, |
| Last week, the Biden administration suspended oil and gas leases for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. |
| This is an important step toward protecting one of the planet’s last intact wild landscapes from the Trump administration’s unlawful effort to wring private profits out of our nation’s public lands. But this action is not enough by itself — the leases need to be canceled outright. We also need Congress to repeal the leasing mandate that was part of President Trump’s 2017 tax giveaway. |
| The lawsuit we filed in 2020 asks the court to cancel the leases entirely, but the Arctic Refuge remains under threat even as that work continues. Join us in calling on the Biden administration to protect the Arctic Refuge by canceling the leases for good and urging Congress to repeal the leasing mandate. |
| While the move to suspend these leases is encouraging, we must keep the pressure on. The Biden administration, after starting out strong on climate and conservation, has made some critical missteps. First, the administration affirmed its support for the continued operation of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and then, just last month, defended a Trump-era approval of a massive drilling project in the Western Arctic. |
| There is simply no way to square the Biden administration’s lofty climate rhetoric with its support for these two projects, the latter of which involves refreezing permafrost (which was melted by the oil industry’s product) in order to have a stable platform to drill. The administration is going to have to choose whether it wants to preserve a livable future or fossil fuel profits — it can’t do both. |
| We’re not going to let the oil industry ruin the Arctic Refuge, but we won’t win this political fight just on the merits — we’ll win because we organize and make it impossible for the Biden administration to ignore its own contradictions. That’s why we need your help in telling the administration to push Congress to repeal the refuge leasing mandate and cancel, not just suspend, the Arctic Refuge drilling leases. |
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Sincerely,
Erik Grafe
Deputy Managing Attorney |
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| Photo Credits: The unspoiled 19 million acres of tundra, rivers and mountains of the Arctic Refuge shelter migratory birds from all 50 states and six continents each summer. To the Gwich’in people of northeast Alaska, this is sacred ground. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). |
| © 2021 |
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