WHAT'S GOING ON? | Parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will be offered for new oil and gas leasing on June 5, 2026. .
Next month, the government will offer 688,829 acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for new oil and gas leasing. The lease sale covers lands in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge, an area that is sacred to the Gwich’in People. It’s vital that we show up loud and clear to once again tell the government and corporations that drilling on our Arctic public lands is not a solution to lowering prices at the pump or raising revenues.
American taxpayers are already $1 BILLION in the hole on President Trump’s previous attempt to sell off the Arctic Refuge (ANWR) to the highest bidder to afford massive tax breaks for the country’s wealthiest. Now the Willow Complex in America’s Western Arctic is also falling short, projected to cost Alaska’s taxpayers more than they’ll get back from ConocoPhillips.
Despite this record of repeated economic failures, the Administration continues to fast-track corporate giveaways across America’s Arctic– all to line the pockets of the wealthiest Americans..
Enough is enough. Our public lands and wild places are worth more than being irreparably damaged by corporate welfare giveaways.
WHO IS DOING IT? | The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under President Trump and the Corporations bidding on leases.
The upcoming lease sale was mandated as part of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Previous lease sales in the Arctic Refuge received little interest from corporations, but the BLM has been fast-tracking and deregulating Arctic development at an alarming pace. Earlier this year several major oil companies bid on leases across the Western Arctic Reserve. It’s imperative that corporations know that the public is watching, and that drilling a National Wildlife Refuge is unacceptable.
WHY DOES IT MATTER? | America's Arctic is too important to Planet Earth to be gifted to corporate interests.
FIRST, oil and gas profits are already at record highs. The administration's push to drill the American Arctic while derailing renewable energy projects and removing solar and wind power from federal energy programs is a blatant corporate handout at the expense of everyday Americans and the well-being of our entire planet. Our federal agencies have a responsibility to ensure the government works FOR its citizens. Instead, it's actively helping one of the wealthiest and most polluting industries in the world at the expense of the average Americans' pocketbooks.
SECOND, the Arctic is warming 4x faster than the rest of the planet. A healthy Arctic stabilizes the jet stream, reducing extreme weather events. It's an enormous carbon sink for the entire planet, mitigating the worst impacts of climate change all around the globe.
Recent natural disasters, like the devastation caused across Western Alaska by Typhoon Halong and freezing temperatures in Texas, only underscore how much is at stake, and how much coastal and Indigenous communities bear the burden of our collective action.
The Western Arctic is the ancestral homeland of Indigenous Peoples who depend upon access to clean water and unpolluted resources for traditional livelihoods and food security. And it is vital habitat for American wildlife like polar bears, bowhead whales, caribou, and wolves.
Watch the video below to learn more on how America's Arctic impacts everyone on Earth, and and explore the entire 5-part series of 1-minute videos on how the Arctic impacts global biodiversity, economies, climate, and food webs.
OK! WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT? | Educate yourself and others! Visit our Take Action page often to find the latest guidance, and follow us on social media to updates in real time.
In addition to taking action above, follow @ProTheArctic to stay up to date, and check out our Creator Toolkit for resources like maps, videos, and more to share your own content!
