Earthjustice Action Applauds Reintroduction of the Arctic Refuge Protection Act

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.), House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) reintroduced the Arctic Refuge Protection Act. The legislation will permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by designating its coastal plain ecosystem as Wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Arctic Refuge coastal plain is sacred to the Gwich’in Nation and is the calving grounds of the 200,000-plus member Porcupine caribou herd. More than 100 Representatives and Senators joined the bills as original cosponsors.  

“The Trump administration and congressional Republicans are seeking to auction off this special and sacred place to turn the coastal plain into an oil industrial complex,” said Earthjustice Action Senior Policy Advisor Marty Hayden. “Earthjustice Action commends Representatives Huffman and Fitzpatrick  and Senator Markey for supporting the Gwich’in Nation and introducing legislation to permanently protect the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Arctic is not for sale.” 

The reintroduction comes at a time where some congressional Republicans are trying to mandate oil and gas leasing in the upcoming reconciliation bill, attempting to use its revenues to pay for President Trump’s tax and immigration enforcement agenda. In January 2025, the Department of Interior held a lease sale in the Arctic Refuge that received no bids. The original tax bill lease sale in January 2021 received no bids from major oil companies and the only leases still applicable were purchased by an Alaska State agency that has never owned or developed oil and gas leases previously.  That lease sale generated less than 1% of the federal tax revenue promised by the 2017 tax bill, and the second sale generated zero dollars.