BLM calls for nominations of tracts to be leased in the Western Arctic
Alaska's Western Arctic
BLM via Flickr
In the midst of a government shutdown, the federal Bureau of Land Management this morning issued a call for nominations for an upcoming oil and gas lease sale involving all unleased tracts within the Western Arctic’s National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The federal Bureau of Land Management this morning issued a call for nominations and comments for an upcoming oil and gas lease sale involving all unleased tracts within the Western Arctic’s National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
In response to this development, The Wilderness Society issued the following statement from Alaska Senior Manager Matt Jackson:
"Once again, while the government is shut down for regular Americans, it remains open for business with big oil, this administration is rushing forward to sell off our public lands for corporate profits at the expense of the American people, local residents and beloved wildlife most at risk from the negative impacts of oil and gas drilling.
“BLM has put more than 16 million acres, including the entire Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, on the chopping block despite this area having been designated too special to drill for decades. Home to the largest congregation of migratory bird nesting in the entire global Arctic and the calving ground of the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd, Teshekpuk Lake is the last place on Earth we should be leasing.
“Instead of protecting the freedom of Alaskans to shape our future, this administration threatens to sacrifice the clean air, clean water and wildlife we depend on, while shortchanging future generations who deserve to inherit healthy lands as we did.”
Officially named the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the 23-million-acre Western Arctic is America’s largest tract of public land and was designated by Congress in the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act to be managed for both conservation and energy production.
