Action Alerts

Defend the Western Arctic from oil and gas drilling

What's At Stake

The Arctic faces unprecedented threats from aggressive oil and gas drilling proposals. These risky ventures endanger fragile ecosystems, Indigenous communities, and accelerate the climate crisis.   

Attempting to make good on its promises to sacrifice Alaska’s vast irreplaceable landscapes for drilling, mining, and logging, the Trump administration has decided to prioritize fossil fuel industry wishes by recklessly moving to open more than 18-million acres in the Western Arctic to oil and gas development. 

The administration is now asking for comments on which areas of the Western Arctic it should lease this winter to fossil fuel companies for drilling. We need to officially register our overwhelming opposition and say: the Arctic should be protected, not drilled for oil and gas. 

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The Western Arctic is the nation’s largest intact tract of public land. It covers 23 million acres of diverse habitats, ranging from tundra and wetlands to mountain foothills, grassy uplands, riparian areas, and river deltas. 

It is a place of staggering beauty and a globally significant ecosystem that supports countless species, from migratory birds to caribou and polar bears. It is also home to Indigenous communities who have stewarded the land for millennia.  

The Western Arctic also plays a critical role in stabilizing our climate: its permafrost stores vast amounts of carbon, and its reflective sea ice helps cool the planet.  

Protecting this region is essential not only for preserving biodiversity but also for slowing global warming and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. 

Proposals to open the Western Arctic are only the beginning. This is the first step in the Trump administration’s unprecedented push to maximize oil and gas drilling in Alaska by leasing even more ecologically sensitive lands and waters to the highest-bidding fossil fuel company.   

That is why we need to speak up at every opportunity. We have to defend the Arctic, advocate for protections, and prevent destruction.  

Caribou in the western Arctic.
Caribou in the western Arctic. (Kiliii Yüyan for Earthjustice)

29 Days Remain

Delivery to Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office

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Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

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.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

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.