Congress recklessly rejects management plan for Western Arctic
The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is a vitally important area for Nuiqsut and other North Slope communities that depend on its diverse wildlife, including caribou, birds and fish.
This action nullifies a balanced and science-based plan issued by the federal Bureau of Land Management in 2022 that increased protections for the reserve
In a controversial use of the Congressional Review Act, the Senate today passed a resolution from Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska to roll back a plan that governs management in part of the Western Arctic known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
This action nullifies the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Integrated Activity Plan Record of Decision, a balanced and science-based plan issued by the federal Bureau of Land Management in 2022 that increased protections for the reserve, particularly for "Special Areas”-- critical to wildlife and subsistence users-- informed by years’ worth of public meetings, input and analysis.
This congressional action also prohibits rules that are substantially the same from being created in the future, throwing all users of the Western Arctic into uncharted territory. Matt Jackson, Alaska senior director for The Wilderness Society, made the following statement about the news:
“Rolling back the Western Arctic’s Integrated Activity Plan is a terrible move for the management of our public lands, which future generations of Alaskans will need to survive and sustain our ways of life. Congressional Republicans should not be tipping the scales in favor of big oil companies and against wildlife and subsistence food needs. Politicians with no understanding of our rural communities are dictating that our shared public lands should be exploited, stealing the freedom of Tribes and local communities to shape their futures.”
