Chill the Drills! Protect America's Arctic

Places in Danger

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge | Teshekpuk Lake | Utukok Uplands | Polar Bear Seas

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Nestled between the Brooks Range Mountains and the shores of the Beaufort Sea in remote northeast Alaska, the narrow coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge is the biological heart of this untamed wilderness. The Refuge contains the greatest diversity of animal life of any conservation area in the circumpolar region.

But Big Oil and pro-drilling advocates in Congress, continues to concoct schemes to open the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas drilling- despite indisputable proof that oil drilling irreparably damages the fragile tundra and its wildlife

Teshekpuk Lake
In the far north of Alaska lies Teshekpuk Lake-a stunning land of coastal lagoons, clear, deep lakes, wet sedge grass meadows, and wide river deltas.

The area supports some of the Arctic's most important birds and wildlife. It is home to a 26,000-member caribou herd, and provides habitat for up to 60,000 molting geese each summer . Waterfowl, like Spectacled and Steller's Eiders and Yellow-billed Loons also rely on the wetlands of the western Arctic, as does one of the world's largest Pacific brant populations.

The vast network of wetlands surrounding Teshekpuk Lake is so important for wildlife that it has been recognized since 1977 by Congress and by three prior administrations as a federally-recognized 'special area.' Yet in January 2006, the Bush administration removed long-standing protections for Teshekpuk Lake - opening the fragile region to widespread oil and gas development.

A last-minute court decision brought by the Conservation community in September 2006 forced the BLM to rethink its plans, address cumulative impacts, and go back to the public for input. Finally, in July 2008, after receiving more than 150,000 comments from activists, scientists, Alaska Natives, hunters, and conservationists across the country, the BLM announced it would defer oil and gas leasing in the Teshekpuk wetlands for at least ten years.

However, Teskekpuk Lake currently has no permanent protection. If the Teshekpuk Lake area is eventually opened to oil and gas development, we will feel it even as far south as the Great Lakes and the Gulf Coast, where each year birdwatchers and hunters look forward to the migration of waterfowl to and from Teshekpuk Lake.

Utukok Uplands
To the south, the foothills of the Brooks Range rise in a region known as the Utukok Uplands. This special area provides critical habitat and calving grounds for the largest caribou herd in Alaska - the Western Arctic Caribou herd. The uplands also host the largest concentration of grizzly bears in the Arctic and the biggest population of wolverines in the world.

Though the wildlife-rich uplands lack significant oil resources, the area is still not safe. Coal lies underneath these subtle rolling foothills of the Brooks Range. The coal industry-which creates 40 percent of our global warming pollution-is now threatening to open up one of our last frontiers to devastating and polluting mining practices. Most of the coal that the industry hopes to wrestle from the Arctic will not even be used to meet American energy needs. Instead, it will be shipped to Asia.

It simply doesn't make sense to destroy our most pristine wildlands and wildlife to mine for an outdated energy source like coal. And if we want to protect the Arctic from the worst effects of global warming, we need to stop the coal rush now.

Polar Bear Seas
The Arctic's Beaufort and Chukchi Seas-the Polar Bear Seas- provide critical habitat for polar bears and other important marine mammals such as beluga and bowhead whales and bearded and spotted seals.

The Chukchi Sea alone supports approximately one-tenth of the world's remaining polar bear population-a population under severe threat from global warming. But instead of working to save the polar bear, our leaders have added one more hurdle to its survival: oil drilling.

Before they left office, the Bush Administration opened the Beaufort Sea to offshore oil and gas drilling, despite strong public opposition. Bush's five-year leasing plan for the Arctic Ocean attempted to dramatically expanded offshore leasing with sales covering 40 million acres in the Chukchi Sea and 33 million acres in the Beaufort Sea. The mounting push to drill the Polar Bear Seas threatens to destroy the area forever.