September 18, 2019
By Michelle Piñon, Arctic Organizer
Take a hint oil and gas companies - there's no market for Arctic Oil.
On Monday, September 16th, the City of Seattle passed a resolution banning the procurement of Arctic Oil. This is just the latest blow to the Trump Administration - who still seems to believe that there is a market for Arctic oil that warrants violating Gwich'in right and permanently destroying one of the last untouched places on earth.
We had a packed room - with folks representing a variety of environmental and labor issues - including legislation on the Seattle Green New Deal which is spearheaded by local EJ activists. We were thrilled to have such an inter-sectional crowd - ranging across traditional "environmental" issues to EJ work to labor organizing.
Green New Deal Seattle also secured a win last night!
This effort was led by local council-member Mike O'Brien who said the following regarding drilling the Refuge.
“It’s great knowing that untouched, unpolluted places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge still exist on the planet, and it is crushing to think that we are on the edge of perhaps making a decision that would end the possibility of the Gwich’in people continuing to live their traditional subsistence lifestyle. I’m really grateful for the Sierra Club and other coalition members that have diligently worked on something like this that we don’t get to see every day here in Seattle. I’m excited to support this resolution. It’s consistent with actions the City has taken in the past and I think it accurately represents what the vast majority of what people in Seattle believe too.”
We'll be taking this momentum to other cities up and down the West Coast!
Special thanks to Organizing Manager Robin Everett, who made this happen, Gabby Brown and Jonathon Berman from the Sierra Club's national communications team, and all of our amazing volunteers.