Washington — Today, as part of a flurry of Executive Actions that include rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline, President-elect Joe Biden will take immediate action to protect the sacred lands of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by placing a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing activities on its […]
Fairbanks, Alaska — The Gwich’in Steering Committee condemns the Trump administration’s issuance of leases of sacred lands in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a violation of their human rights and Indigenous ways of life. “This administration’s decision to hand sacred lands to exploiters shows its commitment to continuing its cowardly […]
Washington — Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its final Record of Decision for a new Integrated Activity Plan for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (Reserve) in America’s western Arctic following a rushed and incomplete process. The new plan opens seven million additional acres within the Reserve to oil leasing, bringing the available […]
Washington — This morning the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published in the Federal Register a proposed Incidental Harassment Authorization and accompanying draft environmental assessment that would greenlight the harassment of polar bears during seismic exploration on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Southern […]
WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Department of the Interior today released its final Record of Decision (ROD) for its Environmental Impact Statement related to oil and gas drilling within the ecologically sensitive coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Adam Kolton, Executive Director at Alaska Wilderness League said […]
Recent attempts by the Trump administration to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to bail out oil companies during the COVID-19 pandemic with taxpayer money, as well as its criticism of banks’ decisions not to fund Arctic oil and gas development, are hugely unpopular with American voters. According to newly completed […]
The states of Alaska and Utah are currently seeking exemptions from the 2001 Federal Roadless Rule, and it is expected that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service will release a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Alaska rulemaking by the end of this month. This Alaska rulemaking, assuming a “No Action […]
Conservation groups voice support for Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act Washington, D.C. — In response to today’s U.S. House Natural Resources Committee vote passing the bipartisan Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act out of committee (the bill passed 22-14), Alaska Wilderness League, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, […]
Former oil lobbyist Bernhardt, likely nominee to be the next Secretary of the Interior, is known for altering/omitting Arctic Refuge data during the Bush administration Washington — Alaska Wilderness League conservation director Kristen Miller issues the following statement on yesterday’s revelations from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) that memos from the U.S. Fish and […]