Tribal Groups Concerned As Interior Downplays Western Arctic Drilling Environmental Risks

The following is courtesy of Grandmothers Growing Goodness and Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic:

Trump Administration to Declare Winter Oil & Gas Exploration Causes No Subsistence, Environmental Harm in Western Arctic 

(Washington, DC) — President Trump’s Department of the Interior today posted a notice of a categorical exclusion for wintertime oil and gas exploration in the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska (NPR-A). This will declare in advance that unlimited oil and gas exploration across the Reserve does no significant environmental harm and will be used for every future project without examining any of them. Publication and finalization of the categorical exclusion is slated for tomorrow, with no opportunities for public engagement. 

“The Trump administration’s plans for the Western Arctic will seal an unsafe future for us. The lands we rely on for hunting caribou and moose, fishing, gathering, and teaching our children would be opened up for reckless oil and gas development with absolutely no consideration for the impacts. There will be no limits to this development, which means no limits to the air pollution it causes. How could we possibly accept this?” said Dr. Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Executive Director of Grandmothers Growing Goodness. “We’ve had to live with widespread development and encroachment on our lands, but at least we had the opportunity to participate in the process and get mitigation. Now there is no opportunity for us to participate – decades of protections and progress will be erased in the blink of an eye. The government has an obligation to protect our nation’s natural resources, not hand over more power to an industry that has destroyed the health, safety, and lives of so many people.”

“Our people live on this land and see the changes first. Free, prior and informed consent exists so that knowledge is heard before decisions are made. We have never had real self-determination in this process, and now Donald’s administration isn’t even pretending otherwise. Cutting out public comment makes that clear. Whether you support oil development or not, every Iñupiaq should care about keeping our voice present on our own land. If we let them take that from us now, it won’t stop with exploration,” said Nauri Simmonds, Executive Director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic. 

The categorical exclusion covers activities including seismic exploration, exploratory drilling, and rights-of-way in the NPR-A. If it goes into effect, the Interior Department could determine that a new winter seismic program, exploration well, or associated access proposal fits within the predefined category and authorize it without preparing a new Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement – cutting out any pathway for people to share knowledge about how a project could affect them, wildlife, or their communities.  

At the same time, the Bureau of Land Management is considering an industry-backed rulemaking that would eliminate separate environmental and subsistence analyses for qualifying oil and gas projects, removing formal opportunities for the communities most affected to examine specific proposals and seek changes before approval. 

Together, these two proposals would effectively end environmental review and public process for all oil and gas activity in the Western Arctic –threatening the health and subsistence way of life of local communities, Tribes, and their members, as well as the wildlife they depend on.