Companies Submit First Application for Oil Exploration in the Arctic Refuge

Washington, DC -- This morning, the Washington Post reported that two corporations, along with an oil services firm, have filed an application with the Department of the Interior to do extensive seismic testing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Oil and gas exploration in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge would threaten one of America’s last truly wild places, disturbing wildlife populations including polar bears and the Porcupine caribou herd that birth their young in the coastal plain. It would also pose an existential threat to the Gwich’in people, who have lived in the area for thousands of years and depend on the caribou for subsistence.

The application comes in the wake of the Trump administration launching the process to hold a lease sale for drilling in the coastal plain. Interior is currently hosting a series of public hearings in Alaska, where Tribes and other Alaskans have gathered to call for the protection of the Arctic Refuge from destructive oil and gas drilling or exploration.

“The for-profit corporations that want to drill in the Arctic Refuge coastal plain do not speak for us or the Tribes, the very people who would be affected by these dangerous plans,” said Bernadette Demientieff, Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. “The Gwich’in Nation is unanimous in its defense of the Arctic Refuge, the porcupine caribou herd, and our way of life. We will not stand for the destruction of this sacred place."

“At a time when investors are raising serious doubts about Arctic Refuge drilling, and climate change is laying bare the need to avoid extreme energy sources, the Trump administration should not be moving forward with destructive seismic testing. Allowing seismic testing or drilling in the Arctic Refuge would do permanent damage to this place and the threaten the food security and human rights of the people who live there,” said Lena Moffitt, Senior Director of the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign. “We stand with the Gwich’in in defending the Arctic Refuge, and we will explore all legal avenues to ensure that oil exploration never happens in this sacred place.”