Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

KEY FACTS

Total Acreage – 19.6 million Coastal Plain Acreage – 1.5 million Original Protection – 1960 under Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower Expanded Protection – 1980 under Jimmy Carter in the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (ANILCA) Most Recent Protection – 2015 under President Obama, USFWS Wilderness recommendation transmitted to Congress of 12.28 million acres Wilderness bills – S. 820; H.R. 1889 Repeal bill - H.R. 5911 Wildlife – Polar bears, 200 species of migratory birds, arctic foxes, black & brown bears, Dall sheep, moose, musk oxen, caribou

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most iconic and pristine landscapes in America. Its 1.5 million-acre coastal plain – the biological heart – is home to more than 250 species that migrate from all 50 states and 6 continents each year. The Porcupine Caribou Herd, a primary subsistence food source for the Indigenous Gwich’in people, migrates hundreds of miles each year to the coastal plain to give birth. Because of this, the Gwich’in refer to the coastal plain as “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.”

Despite the sacred and wild beauty that survives in the Refuge, the Trump administration

Recent Legislative Activity

• H.R. 5911, Arctic Cultural & Coastal Plain Protection Act
  • the bill to repeal the provision of the tax bill (H.R. 1) that mandates drilling in the Arctic Refuge and returns to status quo of no drilling

• 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

• H.R. 1889/S.820, Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act
  • landmark legislation that would designate the coastal plain as protected wilderness

Opportunities to Show Support

• Cosponsor H.R. 5911; H.R. 1889/S. 820 - email Logan Ferree (logan.ferree@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Huffman's office & Morgan Gray (morgan_gray@markey.senate.gov) to co-sponsor.

Talking Points

• The Bureau of Land Management Alaska will soon announce the acceptance of an application to conduct seismic exploration on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The scars of 2-D seismic testing completed on the coastal plain in 1984 and 1985 are still visible 30 years later. Modern seismic exploration, however, is done using a 3-D technique that requires a much denser grid of trails – the 1984-85 trails on the coastal plain were approximately four miles apart, while the 3-D seismic trails envisioned here would be a mere 660 feet apart. Seismic activities would involve convoys of thumper trucks and bulldozers traveling over extensive areas of fragile tundra. These intrusive surface exploration activities – typically employed year after year throughout the life of an oil field – would cause severe and long-lasting damage to the Arctic Refuge.

Fact Sheets

• The Trump Administration's Attempt to Open the Refuge to Seismic Exploration
• Leasing in the Coastal Plain
• Rep. Cole Amendment to FY19 Interior Appropriations Bill

Congressional Letters

• Letter from Senate Democrats Against NOI & Arctic Refuge Leasing, June 2018
• Letter from House Democrats Against NOI & Arctic Refuge Leasing, June 2018
• House Natural Resources Committee Democrats Letter to Secretary Zinke, April 2018
• Republican Letter Opposing Arctic Refuge Drilling in Budget Process, June 2017
• Bicameral Letter to Secretary Zinke Opposing Secretarial Order 3352, June 2017

Public Letters

Maps

Reports & previous attempts to drill