Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
Anchorage, AK -- As the Trump administration races to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering a proposal to allow destructive seismic exploration across nearly the entire coastal plain beginning as soon as December of this year.
This weekend, a representative from the BLM’s Alaska office told Alaska Public Media that, though they haven’t even done an environmental assessment of the impacts of seismic testing in the Arctic Refuge yet, they’ve already decided to issue a draft finding of “no significant impact” and allow the destructive testing to move forward unless they “receive substantial input to change [their] finding.”
Seismic testing would involve bringing industrial vehicles and equipment to this sensitive area and creating extensive noise, vibration, and disturbance. The lasting damage this would cause is well documented. In fact, the scars of the 2-D seismic testing completed on the coastal plain in 1984 and 1985 are still visible 30 years later. The current proposal would involve 3-D testing, which creates an even denser grid of trails. Seismic testing would also threaten wildlife in the coastal plain. Denning polar bears are now more likely to be encountered onshore in the coastal plain than in the 1980s due to climate change, and avoidance measures may not be adequate to prevent disturbance that causes den abandonment and cubs starving to death.
In response, Alli Harvey, Alaska representative for the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign, released the following statement:
“Donald Trump and Ryan Zinke are in such a hurry to sell off the Arctic Refuge for corporate profit that they’re no longer even pretending they take the legally mandated environmental reviews of this proposal seriously.
“At a time when investors have raised serious doubts about Arctic drilling and the American people have sent a clear message that they don’t want to see drilling in this unique place, it’s shocking that Zinke’s BLM is barely even going through the motions of environmental review before trying to sell off the coastal plain to fossil fuel interests. We will explore all legal avenues to ensure that oil exploration never happens in the Arctic Refuge.”
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.