The Porcupine caribou herd on the coastal plain. Photo: Florian Schulz/protectthearcic.org
A First Nation in Yukon and an Alaskan environmental group say their concerned about Donald Trump’s re-election and what it will mean for a wildlife refuge in the far North.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is located in northeast Alaska and covers 7.9 million hectares. Cradled within the refuge is the coastal plain, a 60,000-hectare area bordering the Beaufort Sea which serves as vital nursery habitat for Porcupine caribou herd.
The plain is sacred to the Gwich’in people in Alaska and northern Canada who call it Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit— or The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.
For decades, Gwich’in on both sides of the border have been fighting to protect the refuge from oil and gas development.
But Trump’s re-election could have major implications for the refuge, the caribou and the Gwich’in.
Trump previously pledged to drill in the ANWR if re-elected in a meeting with Senate Republicans in June according to Bloomberg News. He later said in a conversation on X with Elon Musk he believed the refuge harbored oil and gas reserves rivaling Saudi Arabia, though his claims have been disputed.
The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in northern Yukon said in a press release that drilling in the refuge area will threaten the herd.
“We are determined not to give in to the cynical greed and political opportunism that threatens the survival of one of the last great herds on the planet. Oil and gas development in the Coastal Plain is an existential threat to the Porcupine caribou and to our Gwitch’in way of life,” said Chief Pauline Frost.
“For millennia, the Porcupine caribou have provided us with all we need to survive and thrive in our northern homeland. We will not abandon them now when they need us most.”
Second lease sale to take place
This isn’t the first time Trump has eyed the refuge for oil and gas development.
During the last days of his first administration in early January 2021, the Bureau of Land Management auctioned off nine leases covering around 225,000 hectares of the refuge to potential bidders.
But due to mounting public pressure, major U.S. and Canadian banks said they wouldn’t fund drilling in the refuge. The sale ended up generating a mere $14.4 million in initial bids with only three bidders, two of whom later cancelled their leases.
President Joe Biden’s administration cancelled the few remaining leases last year. However, Trump has pledged to undo those efforts if re-elected.
A document called Project 2025, which many call a blueprint for a second Trump term, said that the refuge should be opened to drilling to help Alaska with its energy economy.
“Reinstate the 2020 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) by secretarial order and lift the suspension of the leases,” the document says.
“We were certainly disappointed,” said Kristen Miller, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League and the Alaskan Wilderness League Action. “You know, this is this is not the election that we wanted to see. But we’ve been here before. We’re going to regroup.”
Miller said Trump’s re-election coincides with a second mandated lease sale that’s set to take place in the coming weeks.
However, she said much like the first sale, the upcoming sale isn’t expected to attract much interest.
She noted a final environmental impact statement for the refuge will also help ensure better protections are in place.
While 161,000 hectares of the coastal plain would be subject to oil and gas leasing – the legal minimum – activity would only be allowed to take place in areas with potential for holding hydrocarbons, among other protections for wildlife and the environment.
“We are very much hoping to see President Biden leave term with no leases held on the coastal plain for sure,” Miller said. “We’re going to fight at every step of the way if there’s any attempts to pursue development in the Arctic Refuge.”
The second mandated lease sale must take place by Dec. 22.
