Cantwell Leads Colleagues in Urging Biden to Provide Strongest Possible Arctic Protections
52 lawmakers led by Cantwell, Markey & Huffman encourage White House to permanently protect Arctic special areas
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, joined Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA-02) in leading 52 of their colleagues in a bicameral letter to President Joe Biden urging his administration to establish the strongest possible protections for America’s Arctic.
“America’s Arctic is a place like none other in our nation. Providing meaningful and enduring protections to these iconic public lands will ensure these irreplaceable landscapes remain critical carbon sinks, premiere tourist destinations, unparalleled wildlife habitat, and a place where Indigenous traditions can continue for generations to come,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We support your strengthened environmental review of the congressionally mandated oil and gas leasing program in the Refuge, including the release of the draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) and canceling the unlawful Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority leases. As outlined in your recent announcement, oil and gas development on the fragile Coastal Plain would threaten sensitive species and the Gwich’in people’s way of life. In the final SEIS and decision, we urge you to include considerations of the climate and ecological impacts from leasing in the Refuge and adopt the strongest possible protections for these exceptional public lands.”
The full text of the letter can be viewed HERE.
On Sept. 6, President Biden took action to cancel unlawful leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, strengthen environmental reviews of the oil and gas leasing program passed in the 2017 Republican reconciliation bill, and expand protections for more than 13 million acres of land in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. In their letter, the lawmakers echoed their support for these steps while calling for the Biden administration to consider climate and ecological impacts from leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and safeguard the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska from any new fossil fuel development.
On President Biden’s first day in office, his administration directed a review of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s oil and gas leasing program, and uncovered numerous legal errors in the justifying documents produced by the Trump administration. According to the International Energy Agency, there should be no new investments in fossil fuel supply projects to successfully achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and meet Paris climate goals.
Senate cosigners of the letter included Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). The letter is supported by Alaska Wilderness League, League of Conservation Voters, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and the Wilderness Society.
Sen. Cantwell has been the leading congressional champion of protecting fragile Arctic ecosystems, including preservation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In December of 2005, Cantwell led a historic filibuster that reversed a backdoor maneuver in the Senate that would have allowed drilling in the Refuge. She repeatedly fought back against the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back protections for the pristine wilderness and cosponsored multiple bills to designate its Coastal Plain as a wilderness area.
Sen. Cantwell is also a longtime proponent of protecting irreplaceable habitat in Alaska. More than a decade ago, she was the first senator to oppose the proposed Pebble Mine project in Bristol Bay, which would have threatened one of the most productive salmon habitats in the world before the proposal was effectively blocked earlier this year.
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