US Senators Reintroduce the Arctic Refuge Protection Act

US Senator Edward J. Markey (D) has reintroduced the Arctic Refuge Protection Act.

"Drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a climate time bomb and bad for business—we must protect this pristine wildlife habitat, uphold Indigenous sovereignty, and preserve this sacred land", said senator Markey in a post on Blusky.

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and US Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.) is behind the reintroduction of the legislation that will restore critical protections to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—the nation’s largest national wildlife refuge—by designating the Coastal Plain ecosystem as wilderness under the National Wilderness Preservation System.

This legislation would permanently halt any new oil and gas leasing, exploration, development, and drilling on the Coastal Plain, and would safeguard the subsistence rights of the Arctic Indigenous Peoples who depend upon the Arctic Refuge.

“Trump’s reopening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas is another attempt to revive his old and failed promise of a fictional financial windfall from leasing the Refuge—all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. The urgency to protect the wilderness of the Coastal Plain and the Refuge more broadly and reaffirm the sovereignty of Arctic Indigenous peoples is paramount—my Arctic Refuge Protection Act would do just that,” said Senator Markey.

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