WASHINGTON, DC – January eighth, 2025 – The congressionally mandated second lease sale for the Arctic Nationwide Wildlife Refuge (Arctic Refuge) was a complete failure, with no bids obtained. This growth reaffirms what has all the time been true: the Arctic Refuge is a spot the place wildlife and other people come first, not drilling. For time immemorial, the Gwich’in and different Indigenous Peoples have trusted this land, and it stays a sanctuary for caribou, muskoxen, polar bears, tens of millions of migratory birds, and numerous different species. The way forward for the Arctic Refuge lies in its continued safety and stewardship— not as a web site for exploitation.
“President Biden will go away workplace with ZERO growth within the Arctic Nationwide Wildlife Refuge,” stated Desirée Sorenson-Groves, President and CEO of the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge Affiliation. “We thank President Biden, Secretary Haaland, Performing Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis, FWS Director Martha Williams and BLM Director Tracey Stone-Manning and everybody within the Biden Administration for his or her arduous work to guard this really outstanding place for now and the long run.”
The Bureau of Land Administration (BLM) introduced the bid opening for the second congressionally mandated oil and gasoline lease sale for the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge would happen on January 10, 2025 following a Nationwide Day of Mourning for President Jimmy Carter. It’s becoming that this information comes because the nation honors President Carter, a staunch advocate for Alaska’s wildlands whose landmark conservation achievement, the Alaska Nationwide Curiosity Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), protected greater than 100 million acres of public lands. Underneath ANILCA, the Arctic Refuge was expanded from 8.9 million acres to its present 19.3 million acres, establishing the Arctic Refuge as we all know it at the moment. Regardless of efforts by pro-drilling pursuits in Congress, no bids had been submitted by the January 6, 2025 deadline.
This isn’t the primary time lease gross sales within the Arctic Refuge have flopped. The Trump Administration held the primary lease sale on January 6, 2021 and attracted no main oil corporations. In actual fact, the 2 oil corporations who bid, requested for his or her leases to be cancelled and to be refunded their cash. The one different bidder at that sale was the Alaska Industrial Improvement and Export Authority and their leases had been cancelled as a consequence of authorized deficiencies.
The Arctic Refuge is likely one of the crown jewels of the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge System, residence to an enormous and interconnected ecosystem with outstanding variety of wildlife. Its Coastal Plain serves because the calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, a species central to the tradition and sustenance of the Gwich’in folks. The Gwich’in have lengthy opposed oil growth within the Arctic Refuge recognizing the crucial position this panorama performs of their lifestyle and the well being of wildlife that rely on it.
“Drilling within the Arctic Nationwide Wildlife Refuge is dangerous for the Gwich’in and different Indigenous Peoples who rely on the land and animals within the area; it is dangerous for wildlife; it is dangerous for the planet; and clearly, it is dangerous for enterprise,” stated Sorenson-Groves. “It is time to shield the Arctic Refuge as soon as and for all and take drilling off the desk.”
The Nationwide Wildlife Refuge Affiliation stays unwavering in our dedication to completely shield the Arctic Nationwide Wildlife Refuge for Indigenous peoples, wildlife and the American folks for generations to return.
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Because the main impartial voice advocating on behalf of the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge System, the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge Affiliation protects, promotes, and enhances America’s wildlife heritage via strategic packages that serve the System and wildlife past its boundaries. The group addresses Refuge System funding, administration, and strategic development, whereas additionally selling packages that maximize the system’s conservation influence.
For all media inquiries and questions, please contact Eden Taylor, Director of Communications & Advertising at [email protected].
