Momoko, this is urgent:
The Department of the Interior has just announced a sweeping new plan to open every acre of the 1.56 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to industrial oil and gas development.
The plan goes further than any before it—opening more land to drilling with minimal protections for the area's sensitive resources and reinstating previously cancelled oil and gas leases, all in preparation for a new lease sale before next summer.
This is the most extreme attack yet on one of the largest intact ecosystems left on Earth—ignoring climate science, Indigenous rights and past environmental rulings.
We will not lose the Arctic Refuge—not on our watch. We're fighting back with every tool at our disposal—with litigation, in the halls of Congress advocating for permanent protections, and building overwhelming grassroots support against destroying this irreplaceable sacred place. Will you help?
Please, rush a tax-deductible emergency gift right now to strengthen our defense of the Arctic and all of our shared public lands >>
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most ecologically and culturally important places in the United States. Opening its entire environmentally-sensitive coastal plain to drilling would cause irreversible harm to an irreplaceable ecosystem—and to the people and wildlife who depend on it.
Making matters even worse, this announcement was made during a government shutdown, minimizing oversight and public input.
The destruction will be irreversible, and we can't let it happen. Help us fight back with an emergency gift today.
The damage doesn't stop at the Arctic Refuge—the Department of the Interior has also announced:
- The approval of a controversial road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska, a crucial habitat for wildlife and migratory birds.
- Rights-of-way for the destructive Ambler Road—a 211-mile industrial road that would cut through caribou habitat and is opposed by 88 Alaska Tribal governments.
- Moving to open about 16 million acres of the Western Arctic, including the entire Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, to oil development—despite this area having been designated too special to drill for decades.
These actions threaten intact ecosystems, critical wildlife habitat and the Indigenous communities whose cultures and ways of life are tied to these lands. We must fight back with everything we've got, and we urgently need your help to do it.
Please, rush a gift today to help defend the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and all of Alaska's wildlands for future generations.
Your support today powers the fight against the fossil fuel industry and its political allies and helps keep our nation's greatest national treasures in the hands of the people, where they belong.
Thank you for your partnership.
—The Wilderness Society
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