A Clear Message for Congress
The Arctic Refuge isn’t just tundra and snow. It’s a place where thousands of caribou migrate each year to give birth. Where polar bears den, migratory birds from six continents rest their wings, and the Gwich’in people have lived in deep connection with the land for thousands of years. It’s sacred. It’s alive. And right now, it’s under threat.
Recently, a coalition of organizations and businesses from across the country came together with a clear message for Congress: don’t trade the Arctic Refuge for a quick political win. Don’t sneak oil drilling into a budget bill. The climate can’t afford it. Wildlife can’t afford it. And the people who depend on this land for survival certainly can’t afford it.
See the powerful letter below.
Dear Members of Congress,
As organizations and businesses from around the country, we urge you as Members of
Congress to vote against any budget reconciliation bill that auctions off the coastal plain of the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling. The Arctic Refuge is not a bargaining chip—it is
home to an irreplaceable ecosystem and vital to the cultural survival of the Gwich’in Nation.
Set aside decades ago for protection, the Arctic Refuge is one of the most ecologically sensitive
and culturally significant landscapes in the world. Bears, moose, wolves, muskoxen and over
250 species of migratory birds call the Arctic Refuge home, and each year the 218,000
Porcupine Caribou herd migrates to the Refuge’s coastal plain to give birth to their young. Oil
and gas drilling in the Arctic Refuge would threaten the integrity of this critical ecosystem, and in
turn, jeopardize the wellbeing and food security of the communities that depend on it. For this
reason, the Gwich’in Nation, who have lived in the region for thousands of years, strongly
opposes any oil and gas development in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. The Gwich’in
Nation has made their stance clear: the coastal plain is sacred, and it must remain protected.
We stand with them in their fight for human rights, food security, and the preservation of their
way of life.
The consequences of drilling here don’t stop at the Refuge’s borders. Drilling for oil in the Arctic
Refuge will exacerbate the climate crisis in an area that is already ground zero for climate
change. The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet, and what happens
here affects the entire globe—melting ice, rising sea levels, and disrupted weather patterns.
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge is estimated to unleash 7.7 billion metric tons of CO2—the same as
putting 1.5 million more cars on the road for 40 years—which would accelerate the climate crisis
and fuel stronger and more life-threatening storms around the globe. We simply cannot afford
this climate catastrophe.
Despite the grave climate, ecological, and human rights implications to drilling in the coastal
plain, the Trump administration is pushing to open the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas leasing yet
again as a supposed revenue-generating measure in the budget reconciliation process. But
drilling in the Arctic Refuge won’t lower the price at the pump and won’t even make a dent in
offsetting the proposed billions in tax cuts to billionaires.
Case in point: When Congress approved leasing in 2017, it was promised that sales would
generate $1.8 billion. But after two failed lease sales, the reality is clear: Big Oil didn’t show up.
No major banks will finance drilling in the Arctic Refuge. No major insurers will cover it. The oil
industry itself knows this is a bad bet, yet some in Congress are pushing the same failed
playbook—offering up public lands for private profits while taxpayers, wildlife, and future
generations pay the price.
As a voice for our public lands, we the undersigned demand that the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge is protected from harmful oil and gas development. What happens in the Refuge
impacts all Americans. The Arctic Refuge is not for sale, and it definitely shouldn’t be part of a
smart budget reconciliation bill. We call on you to vote against any budget that includes an
Arctic Refuge drilling program and to stand up for the climate, wildlife, and communities that
depend on it.
On behalf of the 129 undersigned,
350 Bay Area Action
350 Triangle
350Hawaii
350Juneau
Adventure Travel Conservation Fund
Advocates for the Environment
AFGE Local 704
Alaska Soles, Great Old Broads for
Wilderness
Alaska Wilderness League
All About Adventure
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
American Friends Service Committee
Animals Are Sentient Beings, Inc
Arctic Audubon Society
Arkansas Valley Audubon Society
Audubon Alaska
Black Earth United
Boston Catholic Climate Movement
Braided River
Built by boltz
Californians for Western Wilderness
Center for Biological Diversity
CLEO INSTITUTE
Climable
Climate Civics International
Climate Equity Policy Center
Climate Hawks Vote
Climate Reality Project Massachusetts
Southcoast
Coalition to Protect New York
Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship
CPAWS Yukon
Defenders of Wildlife
Deignan Institute at Iona University
Earth Ethics. Inc.,
Earthjustice
Elders Climate Action
Empower our Future
Endangered Species Coalition
Environment America
Environmental Protection Information
Center- EPIC
Evergreen Audubon
Faith Action Network
Fridays For Future NYC
Fridays for Future USA
Friends For Environmental Justice
Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Lost Coast
Futureswell
Great Bear Foundation
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
International Marine Mammal Project of EII
Jewish Earth Alliance PA
Kachemak Bay Conservation Society
Kickapoo Peace Circle
Klamath Forest Alliance
League of Conservation Voters
Long Beach Alliance for Clean Energy
Love is King
Maine Unitarian Universalist State
Advocacy Network
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action
Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Minnesota Division, Izaak Walton League of
America
Mission Green Global
Monmouth County Audubon Society
Montana Environmental Information Center
NACCE
Nassau Hiking & Outdoor Club
National Wildlife Refuge Association
Natural Resources Defense Council
NC Climate Justice Collective
New Energy Economy
New Mexico Wild
New York Progressive Action Network
Northern Alaska Environmental Center
Nuclear Energy Information Service
NYPAN environmental committee
Occupy Bergen County
Ocean Conservation Research
Oil Change International
Olympic Peninsula Prairies
Partnership for Policy Integrity
Patagonia
Peace, Justice, Sustainability, NOW
People for a Healthy
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Plastic Pollution Coalition
Positive Ripple Consulting
Presente.org
Project Outreach: Frac Sand Sentinel
Protect Our Winters
Protect the Kobuk
Resource Renewal Institute
RiSE for Environmental Justice
Rise Up WV
San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper
San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council
Seeding Sovereignty
Sierra Club
Social Eco Education
Soul River Inc.
South Shore Audubon Society
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA)
Standing Trees
Sunflower Alliance
Sustainable Ocean Alliance
Pacific Northwest
The Climate Center
The Rachel Carson Council
The Unpopular Black
The Wilderness Society
TIAA-Divest!
Tidelines Institute
Tongass Forest Women’s Earth & Climate
Action Network
Trustees for Alaska
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Unitarian Universalist College of Social
Justice
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
(UUSC)
Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic
Community
Valley Forge Audubon Society
Virginia Interfaith Power & Light
Washington Wild
Western Watersheds Project
Wild Heritage
Wildlife for All
Winter Wildlands Alliance
Wolf Conservation Center