Virginia Cramer, virginia.cramer@sierraclub.org, 804-519-8449
ANCHORAGE – Interior Secretary Zinke today signed a Secretarial Order opening the Arctic to increased oil and gas production. The Order initiates a review of the sensitive coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas development and aims to increase drilling in the Western Arctic.
In response Lena Moffitt, director of the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign issued the following statement.
“The decision by Secretary Zinke to open the door to increased dirty fuel production in the Arctic is not just misguided, but dangerous. The Arctic is the poster child for the devastating consequences of a warming climate. The damages already being experienced there are a warning that must be heeded.
“Any move to increase drilling in the Arctic is fraught with unnecessary risk. But opening up the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be particularly egregious—risking the very lives of the Gwich’in people who depend on the wildlife of the Refuge for survival and one of our country’s last wild places. The Arctic Refuge is an important symbol of the wild and a source of hope for future generations, even for those who may never set foot there.
”Secretary Zinke should think long and hard before he opens Pandora’s Box any further. Nothing less than our future is at stake.”
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