Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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KEY FACTS
  • Size: 19.6 million acres, roughly the size of South Carolina. The 1.6 million acre coastal plain is considered its ‘biological heart’.
  • Protection History: Established by President Eisenhower in 1960 with bipartisan support as the Arctic Wildlife Range, with the purpose of protecting an entire ecosystem. It was expanded in 1980 under President Carter through the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (ANILCA) to create the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
  • Most Recent Protection: In 2015, President Obama transmitted to Congress a wilderness recommendation for more than 12 million acres within the Arctic Refuge, including the entire 1.6 million areas of the coastal plain.
  • Tax Reform Fallout: In December 2017, as a component of its tax reform bill, Congress opened the Arctic Refuge to oil and gas leasing and development.
  • Oil and Gas Development Threats: The Trump administration is aiming for 3D seismic exploration to begin as soon as winter 2018, and aims to hold its first lease sale by summer 2019.
  • Climate Change: Rising Arctic temperatures are leading to melting permafrost, receding sea ice, coastal erosion, changes in vegetation growth patterns, altered caribou migration routes, increased forest fires, shrinking lakes, and more.
  • Wildlife: The Arctic Refuge is home to polar bears, 200 species of migratory birds, arctic foxes, black & brown bears, Dall sheep, moose, musk oxen, caribou, wolves, wolverines and more.
  • Significance to Alaska Natives: The Gwich’in people call the coastal plain “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.” Protecting the Porcupine caribou herd that calves each summer on the coastal plain is a matter of basic human rights for the Gwich’in.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is America’s largest wildlife refuge, comprising 19.6 million acres of one of the wildest corners left in North America. Its biological heart – the 1.6 million acre coastal plain – is home to countless species of birds and numerous land mammals, like caribou, musk oxen and polar bears. The place holds special meaning to the Gwich’in people, who today rely on caribou for their sustenance, as they have for thousands of years. For many adventurers, a visit to the Arctic Refuge is the wilderness experience of a lifetime.

It is no wonder that the refuge earned protections in 1960 shortly after Alaska became a state, which remained in place until December of 2017.

Today, for the first time in decades, the coastal plain faces potential oil and gas leasing, which would forever change this landscape. As the tax reform debate came to a close in Washington, D.C., last fall, Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski slipped two pages of drilling text into the final bill, undermining decades of thoughtful management and protections. Today, in an unprecedented mad dash, the Trump administration is moving to hold oil and gas lease sales by summer 2019, and allow dangerous seismic surveys this winter, all before the true impacts of Arctic Refuge development can be understood. Please see below for relevant legislation, talking points, fact sheets and more to help us defend the Arctic Refuge.

Fact Sheets | Congressional Letters | Public Letters | Maps | Research & Reports

Recent Legislative Activity

  • H.R. 1, Tax Cuts & Jobs Act
    • The overhaul of the American tax code came with a provision that mandated leasing in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge.

Talking Points

  • The Trump administration is cutting corners to expedite oil and gas development. Interior’s rushed process to lease the coastal plain in place of a measured, science-driven effort that provides for robust public input is a disservice to the American people, including the Alaska Natives who will be significantly and negatively impacted by development. A planning process conducted in accordance with federal law will make clear that drilling on the coastal plain will cause irreparable harm to the wildlife, wilderness, recreational opportunities, and subsistence resources the Arctic Refuge was established to protect.
  • The Alaska delegation is concerned only with getting seismic exploration done and leases into the hands of oil companies before the political winds change. With 2/3rds of Americans opposed to Arctic Refuge leasing, this concern makes sense. The reason that Interior is rushing is clear, as Senator Murkowski (R-AK) has been explicit in saying that the intention is to get the leases finalized so that a new administration cannot come in and undo the process. On working with DOI, from E&E: "There is a strong commitment to work with us to get these leases out before the end of this term," Murkowski explained at an Anchorage business meeting. "Because once you get those leases out into the hands of those who can then move forward, it's tougher" for environmentalists to file court challenges against leasing in the Arctic Refuge.(Senator Murkowski, 3/12/18)
  • Even Seismic Exploration can change the landscape for decades. The scars of the 2D seismic testing completed on the coastal plain in 1984 and 1985 are still visible 30 years later. Modern seismic exploration is done using a 3D technique that involves a much denser grid of trails – the 1984-85 trails on the coastal plain were approximately four miles apart, while the 3D seismic trails envisioned here would be a mere 660 feet apart.
  • Indigenous voices in particular are being ignored. This is yet another example of Secretary Zinke and President Trump disregarding indigenous rights and public wishes in the rush to sell out our public lands to oil interests. Using a hurried, predetermined plan to complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) within one year and limit it to 150 pages is incompatible with protecting the wilderness and wildlife values of the Arctic Refuge or the subsistence needs of the Gwich’in people.
  • For more than five decades, the Arctic Refuge has been a symbol of what we want for our future – the preservation of a way of life, climate justice, and the protection wild places. Not only does the mad dash to develop the Arctic Refuge threaten the place today, but it also will greatly shape the legacy we leave for future generations.

Fact Sheets

Congressional Letters

Public Letters

Maps

Research & Reports


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