Jonathon Berman, jonathon.berman@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC -- Today, Senate Republicans passed the budget resolution, opening the door to oil drilling in the sensitive coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The resolution includes instructions to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to generate $1 billion over 10 years for the federal budget, instructions that will likely lead to drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic Refuge. Previously, the House Budget instructed the Natural Resources committee to generate $3.6 billion over 10 years through similar mechanisms. By using the budget reconciliation process, protections for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge can be overturned by a simple majority vote. The budget resolution maintains tax giveaways for the fossil fuel industry while providing massive tax cuts for millionaires, leaving middle class families to pay for corporate polluters’ profits.
In response Sierra Club’s Executive Director Michael Brune issued the following statement:
“Like Donald Trump, Senate Republicans today put corporate polluters and the richest people before the rest of America. We cannot allow corporate polluters to benefit at the cost of either the people of the Gwich’in Nation, whose livelihoods depend on the Arctic Refuge, or at the cost of working families and the middle class who are already being forced to breathe dirtier air and drink dirtier water as a result of Trump and Senate Republican efforts.
“Senate Republicans should try fulfilling their obligations to the American people rather than the corporate polluter agenda.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.