Press Release: Reconciliation bill offers climate progress, misses opportunity to protect Arctic Refuge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 7, 2022
Contact:  Aileo Weinmann| 202-538-5038 | aileo@alaskawild.org  
                         
Reconciliation bill offers climate progress, misses opportunity to protect Arctic Refuge
“While we too celebrate a win today for our climate as a whole, we are also doubling down on our efforts to make certain public lands are the focus of future climate progress.”

Washington, D.C. – The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, approved by the Senate through budget reconciliation, missed a big opportunity to repeal the failed leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Despite investments in climate solutions, it opens Alaska’s Cook Inlet to offshore drilling.

Statement by Peter Winsor, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League:

“The United States just took a big leap forward to address climate change, and the enormity of the win cannot be overstated.  We are hopeful that this marks a turning point in our history, where America restores its global leadership in addressing one of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced together.”

“Despite the leap forward on climate action, however, today’s progress left out public lands as part of the solution, and in fact parts of the bill increased oil and gas extraction on our nation’s lands and waters, including in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.

“While we too celebrate a win today for our climate as a whole, we are also doubling down on our efforts to make certain that public lands are the focus of future climate progress. Tomorrow we’ll be back at work, seeking to restore Congressional protections for the Arctic Refuge, and urging President Biden to do everything in his power to make sure the Arctic Refuge is a climate solution, and not an oilfield.”

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Photo credit: Pat Pourchot