More Reaction To Interior’s Drilling Plans For Alaska

Here’s some more reaction to the Trump administration’s brazen plan for extracting Alaska petroleum deposits, including in federally protected lands that have drawn the ire of conservation and environmental groups.

First up is the Gwich’in Steering Committee:

Gwich’in Steering Committee Condemns Secretary Burgum’s Plan to Open the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge to Oil and Gas Destruction

For Immediate Release – March 21, 2025

Fairbanks, AK – Yesterday, Secretary Burgum announced the Department of the Interior’s intentions to open the entire sacred coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. Secretary Burgum’s intentions to pilfer sacred land in the Arctic Refuge to the highest bidder flies in the face of the rights of the Gwich’in as Indigenous people and, quite frankly, in the face of common sense. The 2017 Arctic Refuge leasing program has been a massive failure on all accounts. Yesterday’s announcement makes clear, yet again, that this administration favors corporations over people.

The Gwich’in Steering committee stands alongside our Tribal leadership in reiterating our opposition to ANY oil and gas development on the sacred lands of the Arctic Refuge, and will continue to call for permanent protection of the Porcupine Caribou Herd’s calving grounds in the coastal plain. This has been the position of the Gwich’in Nation since the threat of oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge emerged in the 1980’s and remains our position today. And we know that we are not alone: the majority of Americans oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge and the United Nations has three times sounded alarms about the harm and human rights violations to the Gwich’in from any oil and gas development in the calving grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd. 

“Our Gwich’in people have relied on these lands and waters just as the Porcupine caribou herd have for thousands of years, and any threats to the caribou are a direct threat to our way of life,” said Kristen Moreland, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. “We will continue to fiercely defend Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit from any threats from oil and gas development, period. Our Gwich’in people stand side by side with all Alaska Native communities and our allies that are opposed to extractive and destructive industry on sacred land. We will fight this.”

And also a statement from another tribal group, Grandmothers Growing Goodness:

Grandmothers Growing Goodness Condemns DOI’s Plans to Open Western Arctic for Drilling

(Nuiqsut, Alaska) – Yesterday, Secretary Doug Burgum announced plans to open up an additional six million acres in the Western Arctic (National Petroleum Reserve- Alaska) to oil and gas leasing  – a plan that, if successful, will result in the devastating elimination of protections for subsistence and wildlife in the region. 

Last year, Nuiqsut Trilateral Incorporation, a non-profit organization representing Kuukpik, the Native Village, and the City of Nuiqsut, negotiated a right of way (ROW) protecting the core caribou calving habitat area of Teshekpuk Lake. It is unclear whether the Secretary still intends to honor that agreement. 

In response, Grandmothers Growing Goodness released the following statement: 

“It is critical that our leaders protect the Western Arctic from more oil and gas drilling. The health of our communities depends on the health of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, so we must keep this entire region protected. The lands the Department of the Interior wants to open up for oil and gas development are fragile, irreplaceable, and necessary for our survival. Our community will continue using our power to create goodness and ensure that our voices are heard – our lands, wildlife, health, and future depend on it,” said Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Founder of Grandmothers Growing Goodness.

Even if the ROW is protected, leasing 82 percent of the Western Arctic means making the rest of Teshekpuk Lake Special Area (outside the ROW) available for leasing. These areas are currently off limits to protect the broader area where the Teshekpuk Herd caribou calf and also where they seek insect relief. Making so much available for leasing also means opening up the Utukok Uplands for development, which are the calving grounds for the Western Arctic caribou herd. 

“We fought for and won these additional caribou habitat protections more than 10 years ago. However, our leadership has known and described the importance of these areas for generations. It is our tradition to honor and protect these calving grounds. Our leadership must stand firm in maintaining these key protections. These are not the places that should be up for negotiation; simply asking for a seat at the table and meaningful consultation with BLM is not enough. We must work together to protect the concrete gains we achieved so long ago,” Rosemary continues. 

This announcement follows the Biden Administration’s efforts last year to protect Teshekpuk Lake and other important subsistence and wildlife areas in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPR-A). Additionally, President Biden’s Department of the Interior just recognized significant subsistence resource values, the need for co-management, and the importance of establishing new Special Areas to protect subsistence use in the Western Arctic, and the executive order rescinds these safeguards.