Protect the Arctic Refuge
Protect the Arctic Refuge
On October 23, Secretary Burgum announced plans to auction off 1.56 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling, threatening one of the last truly wild places on Earth.
You didn’t stay quiet. More than 6,000 of you took action. Together, we hand-delivered a 74-page petition to lawmakers in D.C., calling for permanent protections for the Arctic.
Now, we’re facing the next critical moment.
Lease sale nominations in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are open through June 3, with more land on the table than ever before. We won’t know which companies are bidding until after the deadline, but if this moves forward, industrial development will follow.
Even after lease sales are made, it doesn’t automatically lock in drilling. Each company that secures a bid will eventually have to go through a federal permitting process that requires public input. But for now, while we may not yet know which companies are behind this, we know exactly where to apply pressure: Congress.
Tell Congress to Pass the Arctic Refuge Protection Act.
The Arctic Refuge Protection Act is the strongest tool we have to:
- Stop lease sales from turning into active drilling
- Block federal permits, funding, and infrastructure buildout
- Protect the Arctic Refuge for future generations
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What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic, and right now, we’re at a critical turning point.
Why this matters:
- The health of our planet: The Arctic is warming nearly 4x faster than the rest of the planet. Drilling here would unleash massive carbon pollution and accelerate impacts already hitting our winters.
- Wildlife and intact ecosystems: The Refuge is home to caribou, polar bears, migratory birds, and more. Industrial development would permanently fragment one of the last untouched ecosystems on Earth.
- False economic promises: Arctic oil won’t lower gas prices. It enters a global market, while extraction remains costly, slow, and uncertain.
- The future of public lands: We’ve seen this playbook before. Open lands to leasing, then expand development. If it happens in the Arctic, it sets a dangerous precedent everywhere.
This movement is powerful because of people like you, but this moment requires us to push further to stop not just the lease sale, but everything that comes after it.
