Biden Administration Releases Final Supplemental Environmental Statement for Arctic Refuge.

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Biden administration announced the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The FSEIS was needed in order to re-assess the environmental impacts of the Arctic Refuge oil and gas leasing program because the first analysis by the Trump administration was fundamentally flawed and violated the law.

“Today’s action by the Biden administration better protects the Arctic Refuge, and for that, we are grateful,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League. “The election results have made the threat to America’s Arctic clear. The fight to save the Arctic Refuge is back, and we are ready for the next four years.” 

With the announcement of the FSEIS, the Biden administration has tried to strengthen measures to try to prevent impacts on subsistence for local communities, harm to the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd, and the adverse effects on threatened polar bears from oil and gas activities. But the FSEIS also makes clear that the Arctic Refuge is still unnecessarily under threat from oil and gas drilling. There is overwhelming evidence that any oil and gas program will have destructive and harmful impacts on the coastal plain. 

Despite the fact that the first lease sale, held by the Trump administration in 2021, was an absolute failure and generated a mere $12 million – less than 1% of the revenue promised with the Tax Act – the 2017 Tax Act still legally requires the Department of the Interior to hold a second lease sale in the Arctic Refuge by the end of 2024.

We, alongside the Gwich’in Steering Committee, Tribal Governments, and Iñupiat allies cannot overstate the need for Congress to repeal this destructive and failed legislative mandate and restore protections for this sacred place.