Trump Administration Invites Oil Industry to Desecrate Sacred Arctic Refuge
Earthjustice
November 13, 2020
Agency is ignoring impacts to people, climate, and wildlife, and relying on flawed science in its rushed, secretive process.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amid a global public-health crisis and with oil prices at extreme lows, the lame duck Trump administration is expected to issue a “request for nominations” as early as Monday, asking oil companies to identify their preferences on areas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain to lease for oil drilling. This is the latest move by the Trump administration in its rushed process to open one of the nation’s most iconic and sacred landscapes to oil drilling.
The case for protecting this sacred land is so clear that five of the six major U.S. banks — Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo — are among the two dozen banks around the world that have announced they will not fund any new oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge. And President-elect Biden has made permanent protection for the Arctic Refuge and other areas impacted by President Trump’s attack on federal lands and waters a Day One priority.