President Obama Proposes To Permanently Protect 12 Million Acres of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as Wilderness

Calls on Congress to put this special place off-limits to oil and gas development

Contacts

Alyssa Ritterstein, Earthjustice, (202) 797-5243

The following is a statement from Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen:

“We applaud and thank President Obama for adopting a conservation plan that for the first time proposes to designate a large portion of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness to protect it from exploitation and development. We call on Congress to follow the President’s lead.

“Known as ‘The Sacred Place Where Life Begins’ to Alaska Native communities and teeming with rare wildlife, this is a place of incalculable beauty and value, to be protected like Yellowstone and Yosemite, not turned into another polluted oil patch.”

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Hillebrand / U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

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Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.