DENVER — The Department of the Interior’s announcement seeking to expand oil and gas drilling on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and to pursue  a 211-mile industrial road to be built through the sensitive Brooks Range will threaten  Indigenous communities and iconic wildlife populations. 

“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Brooks Range are home to unparalleled wildlife populations, aesthetic beauty, and exceptional recreational opportunities. They also provide subsistence hunting for more than 65 Tribes and other Indigenous communities. These are places that are simply too important to harm through extractive development or to carve up with roads,” said David Willms, associate vice president for public lands. “Over and over again, polling has shown that the American people are strongly opposed to harming this intact ecosystem. The lack of bidding on parcels of land in the Refuge that were recently made available for development shows that oil and gas companies are more interested in developing in other places.”