Chill the Drills! Protect America's Arctic

There is a Better Way: Clean Energy Solutions

An otter covered with oil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Most of our public lands in America's Arctic are already open to oil and gas leasing and the destructive activities associated with exploration and development. Activities like pipeline and well pad construction, along with road building destroy wildlife habitat, create air and water pollution and forever compromise the wild character of land and sea. But the U.S. Department of Interior and its sub agencies continue to issue new oil drilling leases in the places where wildlife live and raise their young.

Dirty energy like oil and coal amounts to a one-two punch for the Arctic: The region's wildlife suffers immediate threats from pollution, industry, and spills. But the inevitable impacts of this kind of development are more far-reaching: Burning the fossil fuels found in the Arctic will only accelerate global warming and hasten the disappearance of animals like the polar bear. There is a better way. America's Arctic should be protected for the benefit of future generations. We don't need to sacrifice irreplaceable wildlife habitat in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Teshekpuk Lake, the Utukok Uplands, and the Polar Bear Seas in the pursuit of oil.

American ingenuity has already produced clean energy solutions - including wind and solar power - that make drilling these sensitive areas unnecessary. Instead of ruining one of America's last truly wild expanses for a very limited amount of oil, we should be investing more in these technologies and producing more fuel-efficient cars.