Congress Helping Sell Off Alaska’s Arctic to the Highest Bidder

U.S. House of Representatives votes to overturn public lands protections in Alaska’s Western Arctic and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, the U.S. House of Representatives used the Congressional Review Act to overturn protections enacted under the Biden Administration that safeguarded millions of acres of the Western Arctic and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas drilling. The Western Arctic resolution passed the U.S. Senate during the government shutdown, and with this House vote, will now be signed into law by President Donald Trump. The Refuge resolution would also need to be passed by the Senate before it is signed into law. Recently, groups sent letters to Congress urging them to oppose both the Arctic Refuge and Western Arctic resolutions. 

Additionally, the House passed a CRA resolution that would undo the Buffalo resource management plan in Wyoming, opening hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands to new coal leasing. A companion resolution was introduced in the U.S. Senate last month, and Congress passed a similar resolution opening public lands in eastern Montana to new coal leasing on October 8. Fourteen organizations sent a letter to the House opposing the Buffalo CRA resolution earlier this week.  

After the House votes on the Western Arctic and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge resolutions, Earthjustice Action Senior Legislative Representative Laura M. Esquivel issued the following statement:  

“It’s telling where Congress’ priorities lie when one of its first actions following the longest government shutdown in history is to remove critical protections for the Arctic, auctioning off some of the nation’s most irreplaceable public lands to the highest bidder. These protections were crafted after extensive public engagement, based on the best available science and Indigenous knowledge. This vote sent a clear message that polluter profits are more important than protecting these fragile ecosystems, the wildlife and people who depend on these public lands, and our climate. We will continue fighting alongside our partners to protect some of the last truly wild places in the country.” 

BACKGROUND: 

Collectively, the Western Arctic and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge cover approximately 42.3 million acres of public land, comprised of diverse habitats and home to iconic wildlife species like polar bears, seals, and caribou. Both regions contain globally important ecosystems that are important for the survival of imperiled species and for Indigenous communities who have lived in the Arctic since time immemorial. The Refuge’s coastal plain is sacred to the Gwich’in Nation and contains the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd that has sustained the Gwich’in for generations.  

The Trump Administration recently opened the entire 1.56 million acres of the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas leasing and reinstated unlawful leases in the Refuge covering about 370,000 acres. Simultaneously, the Interior Department is finalizing a repeal of protections for the Western Arctic and reinstating a land management plan that would open 82% of the reserve to oil and gas drilling.