Defend Cook Inlet from oil drilling
56,311
Supporters spoke up in this action
Delivery to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Action ended on July 17, 2024
What Happens Next
What Was At Stake
Late last year, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) conducted a lease sale for Cook Inlet — a vibrant but sensitive ecosystem in southcentral Alaska that’s home to beluga whales, salmon, and sea otters. Despite the fossil fuel industry’s allies bending over backwards to mandate the lease sale in the Inflation Reduction Act, only one company, Hilcorp, placed a single bid on a single lease tract. Hilcorp has a terrible safety record and cannot be allowed to drill in Cook Inlet.
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Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.
You level the playing field.
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They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.
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It’s the law.
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Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.
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Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”
When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.
What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.