On January 14, 2009, Senator Joe Lieberman introduced S231, a bill that would permanently protect the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  While this bill has been introduced in previous congressional sessions, the 111th Congress represents the best opportunity in years to build momentum towards passage of an Arctic Wilderness bill.

There are 25 cosponsors.  Cosponsors include: Sen. Boxer(CA), Sen. Cardin (MD), Sen. Durbin (IL), Sen. Feinstein (CA), Sen. Kaufman (DE), Sen. Kerry (MA), Sen. Kohl (WI), Sen. Leahy (VT), Sen. Murray (WA), Sen. Sanders (VT), Sen. Stabenow (MI), Sen. Udall (NM), Sen. Wyden (OR), Sen. Cantwell (WA), Sen. Dodd (CT), Sen. Feingold (WI), Sen. Harkin (IA), Sen. Kennedy (MA), Sen. Klobuchar (MN), Sen. Lautenberg (NJ), Sen. Reed (RI), Sen. Schumer (NY), Sen. Udall (CO), and Sen. Whitehouse (RI).  If your Senators are not cosponsors, please consider asking them to today!

Senator Murkowski  Directional Drilling Bill:   Senate Bill 503, introduced by Senators Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich, is the latest in a long string of attempts by the Alaska delegation to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for development.  Despite claims of ‘no surface occupancy’ and impact-free directional drilling, this legislation is nothing more than a drilling bill in sheep’s clothing. 

The devil is in the details.  By allowing destructive seismic testing and exploratory drilling and opening the refuge to leasing, the bill serves as little more than a Trojan horse that aims to crack open the entire Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain to oil development.   Any drilling near the Refuge could have dire impacts on the Refuge and would likely require surface disturbance within the Coastal Plain. Drilling, no matter what direction, is still dangerous to the Arctic Refuge.  Please contact your Senator to encourage him or her to OPPOSE Senate Bill 503.   Call the Capitol Switchboard at: (202)224-3121 or take action here.

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Court Vacates Bush Administration Arctic Ocean Oil Drilling Plan: In a tremendous victory for  the Arctic Ocean and Bristol Bay, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday, April 17 vacated the Department of the Interior’s five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan for Alaska’s Chukchi, Beaufort and Bering Seas Seas. The five-year plan, which took effect in July 2007, would have opened more than 78 million acres in these waters to unprecedented levels of environmentally risky oil and gas development. The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on the grounds that the Bush Interior Department violated the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) by failing to properly consider the environmental sensitivity of the Beaufort, Chukchi and Bering Seas Seas. Plaintiffs based their argument on the fact that Interior equated the sensitivity of the offshore environment to oil spills with that of the coastal environment, an argument accepted by the court.  The opinion itself can be found here. 

Secretary Salazar's OCS Hearings: Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced in February that he was extending the comment period on President Bush's new 5 year plan  (2010-2015)  for the Outer Continental Shelf.  As part of that, Sec. Salazar personally attended 4 regional hearings across the country.

*New Jersey on April 6: Wall Street Journal, NPR’s Marketplace

*New Orleans on April 9 on April 9: WDSU

*Anchorage on April 14: on April 14: At the third of four hearings held across the country to gain public input on offshore drilling, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar heard from a growing chorus of Alaskan voices committed to keeping Alaska’s oceans wild. From Alaska Natives who live in affected coastal communities on the Arctic coast to fishermen who catch more than 40 percent of U.S. fish in Bristol Bay and southeast Bering Sea, these voices asked Sec. Salazar to put the brakes on industrial development in Alaska’s oceans. For an account of the days event in Anchorage, please check out Alaska Wilderness League's blog from Salazar's hearing in Alaska or these stories:Hearing Coverage plus Dillingham story; BBQ and Industry rally 

*San Francisco on April 17: ABC, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle

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Alaska Wilderness League  and the Alaska Coalition are committed to protecting the Tongass National Forest - a national treasure – to ensure that our Tongass remains a place of wild majesty. Though our Tongass has been carelessly clear-cut in the past and lasting damage has been done to essential habitat, there is much we can do to conserve its last remaining old growth and restore critical fish and wildlife habitat. Alaska Wilderness League is working hard to ensure that future resource extraction from our Tongass does not destroy the forest’s rich yet fragile ecosystem.

*S.881, the Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Resolution Act would jeopardize the collaborative effort that is taking place in the Tongass.  We'd love to have you sign on to an Alaska Coalition letter to encourage Energy and Natural Resources Committee Senators to oppose S. 881.  Deadline for organization and business sign ons is Friday, May 29th. Contact anna (at) alaskawild.org to sign on.

*Sealaska Corporation wants to return to those old days of unrestrained cutting and is lobbying hard in Congress for a new bill that would simply hand over some of the best public lands in the Tongass for its unfettered logging operations.  That means new clearcuts of old-growth trees.  We can't allow it.  Please take action today and encourage your members and business partners to act ask well!