The Trump administration just unveiled a plan to hand over 82% of America’s Western Arctic—one of Alaska’s most ecologically vital landscapes—to oil and gas companies. And while it claims to seek public input, the Administration is allowing the public only two weeks to weigh in on a proposal that could open almost 19 million acres of public lands to drilling, including two particularly ecologically and culturally significant “Special Areas”.
At the same time, the Administration is working to strip vital protections from ALL FIVE of the designated Special Areas in the Western Arctic in a separate harmful action to roll-back protective rules put in place last year. Those protections were supported by 250,000 public comments in 2023.
Since time immemorial, Alaska Native communities have lived in deep relationship with the Western Arctic, stewarding its lands and relying on its rich resources for food, culture, and survival. The Trump administration’s proposal would devastate critical habitat for caribou, endangered whales, polar bears, and migratory birds—and threaten the health, safety, and food security of Indigenous communities who depend on this land.
We are committed to ensuring the Western Arctic is protected from reckless oil and gas development.
Join us in demanding that our voices be heard.
Use the fields below to submit comment letters to the Department of the Interior opposing BOTH of their dangerous proposals to sell off public lands and rescind critical protections in the Western Arctic.
There’s no time to waste.
Combined Comment Option
Dear President Trump and Secretary Burgum,
I write to oppose both of the Department of the Interior’s proposals to roll back protections for the Western Arctic. Specifically:
- Department of the Interior should not change the management plan to open over 80% of the Western Arctic to oil and gas and strike down the Special Areas protections for the NPR-A – one of Alaska’s most ecologically vital landscapes.
- The Department also should not roll back the rules put in place to ensure Special Areas and important resources like caribou are protected from harmful oil and gas development.
The Western Arctic is home to endangered whales, polar bears, migratory birds, and America’s largest caribou herd, which is a vital food source for over 40 Indigenous communities. Taking away critical protections for more than 13 million acres of protected areas and selling off 19 million acres of public lands to the oil and gas industry in the NPR-A would put this fragile ecosystem at risk. Road-building, industrial traffic, and construction, as well as emissions associated with fossil fuel development, would disrupt caribou migration and worsen the impacts of climate change in a region already warming faster than anywhere else on the planet.
I urge the Department of the Interior not to pull back any Special Areas protections and to keep the Western Arctic protected from oil and gas development, the wildlife that depend on it, and the traditions of Indigenous peoples who have stewarded and and lived in harmony with the land since time immemorial.
Signed,