The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a section of federally protected land that spans over 19 million acres in northeast Alaska. ANWR is home to a variety of ecosystems and wildlife, including caribou and polar bears, both endangered species. The land is also sacred to local Indigenous groups. The Gwich’in people refer to the Coastal Plain area of ANWR as “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins” because it serves as a migration and birthing place for caribou. The US Fish and Wildlife Service manages ANWR under the four following principles: “to conserve animals and plants in their natural diversity, ensure a place for hunting and gathering activities, protect water quality and quantity, and fulfill international wildlife treaty obligations.” The ANWR also has value for oil drilling, due to its 1.5 million acre Coastal Plain. The conflict of environmental and economic interests has led to over 40 years of debates and policies about oil and gas development in the area.
Background
Oil drilling in the ANWR has a long history of controversy. In 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) prevented oil drilling in ANWR with the exception of the Coastal Plain area, but this policy did not immediately allow for any oil drilling in the Coastal Plain. The policy required the Department of the Interior (DOI) to first perform an environmental impact analysis of oil and gas exploration in the area, to allow Congress to make an informed decision about whether or not to allow it. In 1987, the DOI finalized their research and recommended opening the area to oil and gas development, but Congress chose not to act on this decision, maintaining the protection of the Coastal Plain for the time being. In 2015, the US Fish and Wildlife Services released a new environmental impact report recommending Congress to establish 12 million acres within the ANWR, including the Coastal Plain, as Wilderness Study areas, which would prevent oil and gas developments, but Congress also never acted on this, leaving the 1980 policy in place.
Policy Changes in 2017
The possibility of drilling was discussed again when President Trump took office in 2016. In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act allowed for oil leasing by private companies on the land. However, before this could begin, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had to conduct a new environmental impact survey. In 2019, the BLM released their final environmental impact statement, in which they recommended leasing the maximum amount of land for oil exploration. Conservation groups, 15 states, and Gwich’in tribes believed this survey was not sufficiently thorough, and filed multiple lawsuits against BLM’s oil and gas leasing program which stated that the decision violated the Endangered Species Act.
Arguments and Responses
Seismic surveys for oil can disrupt polar bear habitats, potentially threatening an already endangered species. While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a peer-reviewed study that concluded that these surveys could be done in a way that poses a minimal threat to polar bears, the U.S. Geological Survey found that 34% of polar bear dens in the Coastal Plains could be threatened by seismic surveys. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service responded to this potential threat by assuring that, even if the polar bears were harassed, they would not be harmed. The Gwich’in tribes also argued that the BLM did not properly factor in the importance of this land to their tribes. Alaska has a short growing season, so the environment can take decades to fully recover from human damage. This means that any potential damage from oil drilling could be significantly destructive to sacred land.
Latest Developments
These lawsuits slowed the approval process but did not halt it permanently. In January, 2021, President Trump authorized the BLM to begin the process of leasing the land for oil exploration. Once again, this decision was met with resistance. Members of Congress and Senators wrote to the secretary of the DOI to try to stop this process, arguing that the environmental impact survey was rushed and that the significance of the land to the Gwich’in people was ignored.
A few days later, newly inaugurated President Biden signed an executive order that temporarily stopped BLM’s Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, and required the new secretary of the DOI to review the previous impact survey. On June 1st, 2021, Biden’s Secretary of the DOI, Deb Haaland, ruled the BLM’s 2017 environmental survey as “legally deficient” and began the process to conduct a new environmental survey of the effects of oil and gas exploration in the Coastal Plain.
