Interior opens heart of Arctic Refuge to development

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced today that his department is repealing the Biden administration’s Record of Decision for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas leading program, and opening the refuge’s entire 1.5 million-acre, environmentally sensitive coastal plain to industrial development.

 

This decision poses a grave threat to the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd that supports the region’s Indigenous communities, their cultures and their ways of life.

 

In response to Burgum’s announcement, The Wilderness Society released the following statement from Alaska Senior Manager Meda DeWitt:

 

“This decision is a direct attack on the Gwich’in, Iñupiaq, and all Indigenous peoples who have lived in deep relationship with the Arctic since time immemorial. Once again, this administration is placing corporate interests above the lives, cultures and spiritual responsibilities of the people whose survival depends on the Porcupine Caribou Herd, the freedom to live from this land and the health of the Arctic Refuge.

 

“We stand firmly with the Gwich’in and Iñupiaq who oppose this destruction. No words can express the heartbreak of watching our sacred homelands treated as commodities. The Arctic Refuge is not a project site—it is a living relative, the heart of our way of life, and it must be permanently protected so that future generations can continue to live, pray, and thrive in reciprocity with this land.”

 

At 19.3 million acres, the Arctic Refuge is America’s largest wildlife refuge and provides habitat for caribou, polar bear and migrating birds from across the globe, and a diverse range of wilderness lands.   

 

Oil and gas drilling would have devastating impacts on this intact and fragile ecosystem, caused by the massive infrastructure needed to extract and transport oil, as well as inevitable spills of oil and other toxic substances.