America’s largest remaining stretch of pristine wilderness — the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — could soon be under siege by the oil and gas industry.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is doing everything he can to introduce oil and gas drilling to more than a million acres of untouched wilderness that polar bears, caribou and other Arctic wildlife call home.
The Arctic and its rare wildlife are already facing existential threats from the climate crisis. Handing this pristine wilderness to the fossil fuel industry will only accelerate the climate emergency and wildlife extinction crisis. It’s an outrageous violation of our shared planet.
This is supposed to be a wildlife refuge — not a refuge for a dying industry that's wreaking havoc on Earth’s climate and wildlife.
Sign this petition to tell the Bernhardt to keep oil in the ground and protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Why is this important?
Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling will worsen both the climate and wildlife extinction crises. Burning the recoverable oil estimated in the refuge could result in more than 4.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide pollution — that’s roughly equivalent to the emissions from nearly 1,100 coal plants operating for a year.
While the Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate — losing 13% of Arctic sea ice per decade — the climate crisis continues to ravage communities and wildlife habitats across the globe. At the current rate, the Arctic could be without ice in the summer by 2040.
As sea ice is lost, so are the animals that depend on it for their survival.
If Big Oil is allowed to drill into the Arctic Refuge, this wild landscape will be forever scarred. And, once drilling rights are sold, it will be much harder for elected officials to reverse course.
Though the threat is high, the fight is not over. That’s why it’s up to all of us to oppose every effort to industrialize this pristine refuge.
It’s time to demand the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be protected from oil drilling.