Pledge to Defend the Sacred & Protect the Arctic

On September 28th, 2023 Gwich’in leaders once again voiced opposition to oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge. Watch Arctic Village First Chief, Galen Gilber, share his story to #ProtectTheArctic

🚨 CURRENT THREAT TO THE 🚨
ARCTIC REFUGE

In late 2017 Congress passed a law requiring the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to hold oil and gas lease sales in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Arctic Refuge). The second of these lease sales must be held by the end of 2024. BLM recently released a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) analyzing the impacts of the leasing program and seeking comments from the public.

The impacts of drilling in the Arctic Refuge are a human rights issue; it would significantly impact Gwich'in and Iñupiaq way of life. Drilling for oil and gas in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge would disrupt and terrorize the birthing grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, an essential part of both Indigenous nations’ way of life.

Willow Project Statement

Written by Enei Begaye, Executive Director

The continued approval of ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project is an outrageous slandering of Indigenous rights, Tribal sovereignty, and the millions of Americans, including Alaskans, who voted for strong national actions to address the climate crisis. 

A few weeks ago the Biden Administration made the shameful choice to approve the Willow Project, a massive oil and gas expansion on the north slope of Alaska. Recently a US District Court Judge struck down requests to halt construction due to community concerns and impacts  to the lands and water. Native Movement is deeply disappointed with these decisions, which will result in significant human rights violations – globally and locally. These decisions are a complete disregard for United Nations Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the community right to free, prior, and informed consent. 

Native Movement continues to uphold local community concerns for their safety and wellbeing. We underscore the demand from Alaskans to end new oil and gas development and transition to more diverse, sustainable, and regenerative economies. Native Movement is an Alaska-based non-profit organization that represents grassroots organizing led by Indigenous peoples throughout the north. 

Not all Alaskans want more massive oil and gas development, despite what Alaskan congressional leaders say. The local governments closest to the proposed development area – the City of Nuiqsut and the Native Village Nuiqsut – clearly oppose the Willow project. Native Movement remains in solidarity with the community leaders who for years have worked to protect their community from the toxic oil and gas development that surrounds them and threatens their health and their culture. We stand with local Indigenous leaders fighting to protect the Teshekpuk Caribou herd with whom their ancestors have been in sacred relationship for thousands of years. 

The Biden Administration has chosen corporate profits and greed over the well-being of Nuiqsut, a community who depends on the land for clean food and water. Last year alone, ConocoPhillips made a record $1.4 billion in Alaska – which is more money than the local and state governments are estimated to gain from Willow over the next 30 years. The Native Village of Nuiqsut has received only an average of $600,000 from drilling in the Western Arctic over the past decade – which is equivalent to what ConocoPhillips made in Alaska last summer in just two hours. 

While all eyes are on Willow now, it is notably only the tip of the iceberg in the corporate conquest to sacrifice Alaska’s lands, waters, and people to industrial extraction projects. As federal and state subsidized industries seek technological fixes for the climate crisis, Alaska faces mounting threats from increased mining, port expansions, and false climate solutions like carbon capture. Collective public outrage regarding Willow must continue and join us also in demanding that Alaska not be the resource warehouse to the rest of the world. 

We are grateful for the millions of people who opposed the Willow Project and we are grateful for the many young people and community leaders who are still on street corners and in the legislative halls voicing opposition to this project. If you have stood with us against Willow, please continue to stand with Alaskan communities as we are fighting numerous other extractive development projects. The proposed Ambler Road would be a massive “road to resources” state project that would cut through Alaska Native hunting & gathering grounds, opening up vast regions to mining projects. The proposed Donlin gold mine would be one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, destroying Alaska Native fishing culture, the land, and waters. Oil and gas drilling in the Cook Inlet off the coast of southern Alaska is a threat to ocean life and global climate health. Alaska has been touted as a “resource warehouse” to the rest of this country – please join us in declaring that Alaska is not a sacrifice zone and our lands are NOT for sale to the highest bidder.

As Alaskans work to stop extractive projects across the state, we are also deeply committed to building the future we want to see. We remember the wisdom of our ancestors who lived in right relationship with each other and the earth since time immemorial. We bring this wisdom to bear on today’s problems as we shape just and equitable transitions to regenerative, non-extractive economies. Alaskans are already building these solutions; we are developing sustainable farming practices, installing community-controlled renewable energy projects, rematriating land to Indigenous stewards, and bringing equitable broadband access to rural communities. At the Alaska Just Transition Summits we gathered to share our work, our solutions, our vision, and our joy. 

We invite everyone outraged about Willow to join us. The Willow approval is disappointing, but it’s not the end of the story. We won’t stop our work to build communities of reciprocity and joy and to create a legacy of physical, mental, and spiritual health for the next generations.

Photo by Keri Oberly • Nuiqsuit, AK

Take Action to Stop the Willow Project

The ConocoPhillips Willow Project, which received its final EIS from BLM on February 1st, and is awaiting a final Record of Decision from the administration, expected sometime in early March. Now, there is a new resolution in the Alaska State Legislature calling for unanimous support for the Willow Project: https://www.akleg.gov/basis/Bill/Detail/33?Root=hjr6

---

Send a letter below to Secretary Deb Haaland, Senator Lisa Murkowski, House Rep. Mary Peltola and President Joe Biden to urge “No Action” on the proposed Willow Project >>>>>>>
Both the City of Nuiqsut and the Native Village of Nuiqsut have continuously and clearly voiced opposition to the Willow Project. In their joint letter, they cite numerous concerns they have with the project, including: the horrendous lack of adequate consultation, the significant impact on the health of Nuiqsut residents, and the imminent detrimental loss of access to food/subsistence resources.
Learn more on our Willow Project page here

Oil and Gas Companies Exit from Arctic Refuge Leases

Shared from Gwich’in Steering Committee Press Release • OurArcticRefuge.org

Fairbanks, AK  – The Gwich’in Steering Committee applauds the exit of major oil and gas companies from their leases on sacred land in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Regenerate Alaska, owned by parent company 88 Energy, has requested a refund from the Bureau of Land Management of its leases acquired in the government-mandated sale in January 2021. 

And this past weekend, the Anchorage Daily News reported that Chevron and Hilcorp quietly paid $10 million to Arctic Slope Regional Corp. to exit their legacy leases, which allowed for testing for oil and gas deposits in the Arctic Refuge in the 1980s (the results of which were never fully made public). 

These exits clearly demonstrate that international companies recognize what we have known all along: drilling in the Arctic Refuge is not worth the economic risk and liability that results from development on sacred lands without the consent of Indigenous Peoples.

The Gwich’in are united against any development of the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge. This land, which we call Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit (The Sacred Place where Life Begins), is vitally important to the Porcupine Caribou herd, which has sustained our communities for millennia. The Gwich’in Steering Committee has advocated for protection of this land since the 1980s, and in recent years, has been joined by international allies who have raised their voices to stand with us.

The results speak for themselves. A majority of Americans support protecting the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge; twenty-nine global banks now have a policy to decline underwriting oil and gas projects in the Refuge; and fourteen international insurers have also made such commitments. The Biden administration temporarily halted lease activity due to concerns raised by a fast-tracked environmental review by the previous administration, and the United Nations has three times sounded alarms about the harm and human rights violations to the Gwich’in from proposed oil and gas development in the sacred Coastal Plain.

While we gladly welcome the news of these exits, it is a reminder of how much more work is necessary to protect this sacred land, our animals, and our people. Now, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) – a public corporation of the State of Alaska – is the only remaining major holder of oil and gas leases in the Arctic Refuge. 

“AIDEA must show respect to the Indigenous communities they have been overlooking in Alaska projects,” said Bernadette Demientieff, Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. “We are spiritually and culturally connected to the land, water and animals. The Gwich’in people and our allies will never stop fighting to protect Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit.”

Why Is Bank of America Still Open to Funding the Destruction of Our Homelands in the Arctic?

We stand together, the Iñupiat and the Gwich’in, in calling on Bank of America to listen to Indigenous people, protect our homelands, and stay out of the Arctic Refuge. Continue reading at CommonDreams.Org >>

Original Press Release Below:

All Eyes Are on Bank of America to Rule out Support for Arctic Drilling 

By Bernadette Demientieff and Siqiñiq Maupin

Bank of America’s customers may have noticed that recently the bank has been standing out from the rest of its peers. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been in a good way. Right now, Bank of America is the only major American bank that has not yet ruled out funding for destructive drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Over the last year, every other major American bank -- Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citi, and Morgan Stanley -- have joined more than two dozen financial institutions worldwide in updating their lending policies to exclude funding for new drilling in the Arctic, including the Arctic Refuge. Indigenous human rights are being upheld in these new policies and pave the way towards a just transition into a sustainable economy. 

For thousands of years, the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge has sustained life for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, and other relatives on and off the land, that sustain the food security and ways of life of the Iñupiat and Gwich'in people as well as other Alaska Native Tribes. Any disruption of this area would pose an existential threat to not just food security, but our identity as Iñupiat and Gwich'in People. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would also pose an increased public health threat to communities on Alaska’s North Slope that already experience severe health disparities directly tied to the oil production surrounding their community. 

Drilling in the Arctic Refuge violates Indigenous rights, and is a threat to the bottom line of any bank that funds this destructive activity. As the world increasingly recognizes the urgent need to move away from polluting fossil fuels, investments in expensive new drilling projects are growing riskier. By ruling out support for Arctic drilling, banks have recognized that investing in a project that would threaten human rights and worsen the climate crisis is a risk that’s not worth taking. 

Pro-drilling politicians that have long sought to sell off the coastal plain for drilling have predictably pushed back on this growing trend, even going so far as to point to support from corporations like Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to claim that Alaska Native people support drilling, or that the Gwich’in are alone in their opposition to drilling while the Iñupiat people or members of other Tribes support it. This week, we had the opportunity to meet with Bank of America executives to correct the record and explain that these claims couldn’t be further from the truth. 

We let them know that both Gwich’in and Iñupiat Peoples have made official resolutions to protect the Arctic Refuge, and that Alaska Native corporations are just that: corporations. They are not accountable to Tribal members, and they do not speak for us. Neither does Alaska’s Congressional delegation, whose push for drilling and disingenuous claims that the destruction of the Arctic Refuge would help Native communities have made it clear that they care more about corporate profits than our health or human rights. 

We know that we can’t count on these politicians to do the right thing to defend our land and our communities, and the Trump administration is pushing ahead to try to sell off the coastal plain for drilling by the end of the year. That’s why it’s more important than ever that financial institutions like Bank of America recognize the role they play in helping destroy this sacred place or keeping it intact.

As a growing number of major banks are making the right decision, all eyes are on Bank of America to see whether they will follow their peers or continue to stand out in their disregard for the rights of Alaska’s Indigenous people. We stand together, the Iñupiat and the Gwich’in, in calling on Bank of America to listen to Indigenous people, protect our homelands, and stay out of the Arctic Refuge. 

Bernadette Demientieff is the Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. Siqiñiq Maupin is a co-founder/Director of Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic.

Alaskans Stand Up to Protect Arctic Refuge from Exploitation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 17, 2020

Alaskans Stand Up to Protect Arctic Refuge from Exploitation 

A coalition of Alaskans denounced today’s Bureau of Land Management decision to give sacred lands in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to private interests for oil and gas exploitation. This Record of Decision is the final step in an agency environmental review process that puts politics before science and the law, and that threatens the land, water, wildlife, and people of America’s Arctic. As Alaskans and people around the world face ongoing health and financial challenges due to the global pandemic, the administration’s continued efforts to exploit sacred lands on behalf of the fossil fuel industry is particularly egregious.  

“This decision, and the Final Environmental Impact Statement that informed it, is sloppy and unacceptable, ” said Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee. “The federal government did not meaningfully engage with us, and they left out Gwich'in communities in Alaska and Canada. As a result, people that will be negatively affected were never given a voice.”  

“The attack on Alaska as a whole has been overwhelming. Our food, water, and air has been contaminated to the point of serious health impacts to humans and our relatives on the land and in the sea,” said Siqiñiq Maupin, Community Organizer for Native Movement. “We are seeing warming of the land that sustains all life at two times the rate of the rest of the world, endangering basic needs as the climate crisis worsens. In the midst of a pandemic that disproportionately affects BIPOC communities, we must take a stance against any further fossil fuel extraction and continued harm against our People. We are experiencing a shift in global consciousness from a system rooted in white supremacy into systems rooted in Indigenous ways and values. We must transition into an equitable and sustainable future for all beings.”

This decision follows the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on September 12, 2019, and illustrates the corruption, haste, and disregard for human rights and science that have defined this push for exploitation since day one. 

The FEIS went so far as to deny that there is a climate crisis impacting our entire planet, especially Arctic communities. Traditional and Western science overwhelmingly agree that human-caused climate change is occurring, and that transitioning off fossil fuels is needed. Officials have selected the most exploitative of the alternatives (none of which were sufficiently protective), allowing leasing across the entirety of the considered area, with minimal and waivable restrictions on construction only during a single month, a blatant dismissal of the Porcupine Caribou Herd and the Gwich'in and Inupiat people who depend on it. This is the deceitful foundation on which the administration has built their policy. Protection of the coastal plain is an Indigenous issue, an environmental issue, and a global issue, and voices from around the world have spoken up against this rush towards exploitation. 

In response to the FEIS, a broad coalition of Alaska organizations issued a statement committing to “stand in solidarity for the protection of the coastal plain which provides spiritual, cultural, recreational, and economic sustenance for Alaskans and many others around the world.” This commitment remains strong, and we will not allow the violation of the coastal plain.  

Additional Quotes: 

“An environmental impact statement is meant to determine whether a project on public lands is in the best public interest, but this EIS process markedly failed to do that,” said Lisa Baraff, Program Director for the Northern Alaska Environmental Center.  “The administration suppressed science and traditional knowledge about the coastal plain. They unabashedly deny the realities of climate change, and have ignored over a million Americans who have spoken out in overwhelming opposition to this project. They have minimized the concerns of Gwich'in and Iñupiaq peoples who rely on the Porcupine Caribou Herd and have been stewards of this land for millennia. We will not sit back and watch the wealth of our land extracted for the benefit of Outside interests. Fortunately, Alaskans and our allies around the world are watching, and will not allow this exploitation to happen.”  

“To disrupt and fragment the Coastal Plain, especially in a time of climate change and surging local and national resistance, is both reckless and short-sighted,” said Nicole Schmitt, director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. “We cannot continue to manage our public lands in ignorance of climate change, and cannot in good conscience sell our public lands, traditions, wildlife, and ecosystems for short-term exploitation. We stand with the Indigenous Peoples of Alaska who depend on these lands, and with the polar bears, caribou, birds, and other Arctic species who cannot speak against the irrevocable destruction of their habitat.”

"Three major fossil fuel projects -  the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, KeystoneXL, and Dakota Access Pipeline - have succumbed to community resistance and legal intervention based on the lack of meaningful  engagement in the NEPA process. The ROD on Arctic Refuge leasing repeats the same errors, and will divert limited legal and community resources away from addressing climate change in the Arctic,” said Jessica Girard, director of the Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition. “We're witnessing the end of the fossil fuel economy. And yet the Alaska congressional delegation and the Trump Administration push to lease for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Refuge, in its feeble attempt to feed a dying economy. Alaskans will continue to defend the lands and waters, and to work together to create a future beyond exploitative extraction in the face of climate change." 

“This record of decision, concocted under a rushed time frame, improper manipulation of scientific data, and preordained conclusions, validates the fallacy of ‘responsible oil development’ in the Arctic Refuge,” said Fran Mauer, Alaska Chapter Representative of Wilderness Watch. “If left unchallenged, it will bring irreversible damage to the ecological integrity of America’s Last Great Wilderness, including a vast area of northwest Canada and beyond.  It would also leave an indelible scar on our nation’s character.”

“Alaskans know the Arctic Refuge as the wild intersection of cultural and environmental preservation in one of the world’s last remaining, intact, Arctic coastlines,” said Natalie Dawson, V.P. and executive director for Audubon Alaska. “The BLM has ignored the voices of people across Alaska, and the United States, and the result is a hasty plan to drill in this wild, sacred landscape. Alaskans have played a key role in protecting the refuge for decades, and we are determined to fight for our future as many times as it is needed to permanently protect the coastal plain for people, birds, and other wildlife in the face of our climate changed future.”

"The relationship between industrial exploitation of land and exploitation of peoples' bodies, especially Native women and girls, is well established. This makes protecting the Arctic Refuge a feminist issue," said Brenae Baker of the Hrrrl Scouts. "Selling off stolen sacred lands to be exploited for the enrichment of a few at the cost of Alaska Native lives and lands is white supremacist exploitation, pure and simple. We stand in solidarity with our Alaska Native neighbors and demand protection of the Arctic Refuge." 

Media Contacts:

Bernadette Demientieff, Gwich’in Steering Committee, bernademientieff76@gmail.com, 907-458-8264

Siqiñiq Maupin, Native Movement, siqiniq@nativemovement.org, 907-884-1859

Jessica Girard, Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition, jessica@fbxclimateaction.org, 907-251-5293

Erica Watson, Northern Center,  erica@northern.org, 907-452-5093

Rebecca Sentner, Audubon Alaska, rebecce.sentner@audubon.org, 907-276-7034

Nicole Schmitt, Alaska Wildlife Alliance, nicole@akwildlife.org, 907-917-9453

###