Ian Brickey, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the Department of the Interior released a draft plan that would open up the largest contiguous piece of public lands in the country to oil and gas drilling. The draft plan would open up 82 percent of the Western Arctic to drilling. The Western Arctic comprises 23 million acres of public lands in northwest Alaska.
The Western Arctic contains landscapes significant to Alaska Natives and provides habitat to diverse wildlife including caribou, grizzly bears, and polar bears. If the plan comes into force, it will open millions of acres of currently protected lands to the oil and gas industry. The Western Arctic is the site of ConocoPhillips’s Willow drilling project, the largest new oil and gas development underway on federal lands in the United States.
The Trump administration has pursued giveaways to corporate polluters and oil and gas firms. His executive orders have rolled back protections on public lands across the country to make it easier for oil and gas companies to drill. Similarly, the Republican budget reconciliation bill would further this pro-polluter agenda by returning royalty rates oil and gas companies must pay for using public lands to levels set in the 1920s and further expanding drilling in the Western Arctic.
In response, Mike Scott, Sierra Club’s Oil & Gas Campaign Manager, released the following statement:
“Once again, Donald Trump is trying to give free rein to oil and gas companies to drill our public lands for pennies on the dollar. It’s the story of the Trump administration: Big Oil CEOs win and the American people lose. These landscapes are public lands, they are sacred to Alaska Natives and critical habitat for wildlife. Donald Trump can try to give these lands away to his billionaire buddies, but the American people will not let him get away with it without a fight. We are going to stand with the communities and wildlife that rely on these landscapes and keep the ‘public’ in public lands.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.