Act Now to Save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

https://www.narf.org/arctic-national-wildlife-refuge/

Feb. 26 - Action Alert from Native American Rights Fund (NARF)

Take action now to stop a blatant land grab and protect this national treasure and sacred resource of the Gwich’in people.

In its ongoing efforts to fast track oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before the next presidential election, the Bureau of Land Management released a hastily prepared Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) at the end of December. The draft EIS is far from adequate and does not comply with legal requirements.

You can help. Please review and comment on the draft EIS by the March 13 deadline. Instructions are included below. Let the Trump Administration know that an accurate analysis is needed.

About the Draft

In less than a year, the Trump Administration slapped together an Environmental Impact Statement, based on pre-existing data and research from other regions in Alaska. The draft EIS brushes aside the subsistence and cultural resources of the local Tribes. Under the law, an EIS is supposed to consider all potential impacts on the environment and local communities, but this document falls well-short of that requirement. For example, it does not include an adequate analysis of the effects on the Porcupine Caribou Herd, which calves on the Refuge’s coastal plain, or the Gwich’in Tribes who depend on them; the analysis fails to include Native knowledge from the people most intimately familiar with the region; and, as it compares outcomes for alternative scenarios, it does not even consider the option of NOT opening the Coastal Plain to leasing.

SNIP

How to Comment

Review the Draft EIS on the BLM website.

To comment, visit https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/comments/commentSubmission.do?commentPeriodId=74027