Earthjustice Statement on Western Arctic Protections

The U.S. Department of Interior announced today that western and traditional science shows that public lands within the Western Arctic require increased protection from oil activities. These include areas that are critical for caribou calving and migration and for subsistence hunting, fishing, and gathering that Indigenous people have pursued for millennia.

The agency announced it is kicking off a process that would offer stronger protections against fossil fuel drilling for these public lands and will put in place interim measures to protect them in the meantime.

The new safeguards stem from regulations for the Western Arctic announced in April by the Biden administration aimed at establishing long-term protections for the Western Arctic’s most sensitive landscapes. Following that announcement, a process began in July to seek public input on possible future actions that would enact stronger protections for public lands under threat from oil development. More than 200,000 people called on Interior to expand protections against oil and gas drilling and to set aside more lands as special areas under the law.

These important places provide irreplaceable wildlife habitat, are critical for the traditional subsistence practices of local Alaska Native people, and already face dramatic disruption due to climate change. Road-building, industrial traffic, and the mere presence of roads associated with fossil fuel development can disrupt caribou migration, which in turn can affect traditional hunting practices.

The public lands that won new protections today include an area that spans from Teshekpuk Lake to the Colville River within the Reserve and is critically important for caribou. Currently, five designated special areas, places with long-term protection from development, cover more than 13 million acres within the 23-million acre Reserve, which is the nation’s largest tract of public land.

Earthjustice statement in response to today’s announcement:

“We applaud the Biden administration. It followed the science that clearly shows that these areas’ irreplaceable values require maximum protection against harm from oil drilling. This is a model of inclusive, evidence-based land management and a win for wildlife and people,” said Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe. “The incoming Trump administration will have an obligation to acknowledge that oil development significantly harms the Western Arctic’s irreplaceable natural values.”