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BLM Pick Prioritizes Polluters Over People—What’s at Stake for Alaska
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: 2/14/2025 Contact: Anja Semanco | 724-967-2777 | anja@alaskawild.org Following the nomination of Kathleen Sgamma, a long-time oil and gas proponent to lead the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Alex Cohen, Government Affairs Director at Alaska Wilderness League, released the following statement: “Sgamma’s nomination isn’t just a conflict of interest—it’s a five-alarm fire for our…
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Celebrating Bill Thompson, a Wild Alaska Champion
Alaska Wilderness League is proud to have the support of a dedicated and tight-knit community that has come together time and time again to preserve some of Alaska’s most iconic landscapes. Support from this community comes in many forms – ranging anywhere from sending a message to Congress to making a personally meaningful donation to…
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What the heck Is Budget Reconciliation—And Why Does It Always Come for the Arctic?
Budget reconciliation might sound like an obscure congressional process, but it’s actually been a backdoor tactic for trying to force Arctic drilling into the federal budget for decades. Originally designed to streamline tax and spending decisions, this process has been repeatedly exploited to push through controversial policies that wouldn’t be passed on their own. Now,…
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Burgum Moves to Revive Arctic Drilling, Selling Out Public Lands to Billionaires
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: 2/4/2025 Contact: Anja Semanco | anja@alaskawild.org | 724-967-2777 Following this week’s Secretarial Orders issued by DOI Secretary Doug Burgum, Kristen Miller, Executive Director of Alaska Wilderness League, released the following statement: “In just days, Burgum has proven he’s nothing more than a puppet for Trump’s excessive giveaways to billionaires,” said Kristen Miller, executive…
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The League’s Official Statement on Doug Burgum’s Confirmation as Interior Secretary
“Trump’s allies are ready to gamble away Alaska’s wild places for profits that don’t exist, and Doug Burgum will just be another rubber stamp for Trump’s reckless energy agenda. That isn’t the leadership our public lands need,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League. “Burgum’s loyalty to Trump ignores both the economic realities…
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Doug Burgum: The Billionaire Governor Turned Trump’s DOI Secretary
Doug Burgum may not be a household name, but his new job as Secretary of the Interior in the Trump administration puts him in charge of decisions that will impact millions of acres of public land and water-especially in Alaska. As the former governor of North Dakota and a billionaire businessman, Burgum now leads the…
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Memories with President Carter in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
See the original story in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner here. Memories with President Carter in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge By Debbie S. Miller In the spring of 1990, I finished my first book, “Midnight Wilderness: Journeys in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” based on 14 years of wilderness adventures in our greatest wildlife refuge. I…
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Drill, Deny, Destroy: Trump’s First Day Actions on Alaska’s Resource Future
On his very first day in office, Trump made it abundantly clear that his administration intends to prioritize fossil fuel expansion, climate denial, and political theater over meaningful governance. His inaugural address, early executive actions, and policy signals left no doubt: the next four years will bring an attempted, all-out assault on Alaska, environmental protections,…
Read morePEOPLE LIKE YOU KEEP PLACES LIKE THESE WILD:
ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Protecting the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is crucial because of its exceptional wilderness, wildlife, habitat and subsistence values. It is sacred to the Gwich’in People and other Indigenous communities in Alaska and Canada, who rely on its resources for food, as well as cultural and spiritual practices. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Act) included a provision that opened the coastal plain to oil and gas development and mandated two lease sales by 2024. The Biden administration has revoked existing leases and we continue to work with the administration to restore protections to the Arctic Refuge coastal plain.
Photo credit: Micah Baird
NATIONAL PETROLEUM RESERVE-ALASKA
Development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in Alaska's western Arctic has begun, and ConocoPhillips' Willow project is the poster child for the type of massive fossil fuel development that must be avoided today if we’re to avoid the worst climate impacts down the road. Allowing oil drilling in and around the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area would also threaten an essential cultural area and food source for North Slope communities. Willow would significantly increase ConocoPhillips’ presence in the western Arctic while placing all the burden of development on the people and wildlife of the region.
TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST
The Tongass National Forest serves as a nationally important carbon sink by storing more carbon than any other forest in the country. It is also the linchpin of Southeast Alaska’s economy, attracting people from around the world for world-class recreation, hunting, and sport and commercial salmon fishing. To protect this national treasure, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced plans to restore protections to more than 9 million acres of roadless areas in the Tongass and end large-scale old-growth logging in America’s largest national forest.
Photo credit: Daniel Dietrich/DanielDietrichPhotography.com
ARCTIC OCEAN: THE BEAUFORT AND CHUKCHI SEAS
The Beaufort, Chukchi and Northern Bering seas provide habitat for a variety of irreplaceable wildlife, are central to the life and food security for coastal communities, and play a key role in regulating the world’s climate. Offshore oil and gas activities create significant risk to this important and fragile ecosystem and the coastal communities that have depended on it for millennia. The remoteness and unique characteristics of the Arctic marine environment make resource extraction particularly difficult and dangerous, making new leasing unwise in Arctic waters.
CHUGACH NATIONAL FOREST
More than 1 million people visit the Chugach annually from all over the world; however, it is local Alaskans — especially in and around Anchorage — who really utilize what the Chugach has to offer. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the Chugach serves as the “backyard” for half of Alaska’s residents.
Photo credit: Debbie S. Miller
BRISTOL BAY
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it has denied a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, determining that “the applicant’s plan for the discharge of fill material does not comply with Clean Water Act guidelines” and concluding that “the proposed project is contrary to the public interest." The Bristol Bay watershed in southwest Alaska boasts the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery that supports thousands of jobs. Alaskans and Bristol Bay’s Indigenous peoples, as well as hunters, anglers and wildlife enthusiasts from all across the country, spoke out in opposition to this ill-conceived project.