The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of our nation’s most majestic public lands, home to the Porcupine Caribou Herd, denning polar bears, musk oxen, wolves, and nearly 200 species of migratory birds. Its biological heart, the coastal plain, is no place for oil and gas development.
And yet, the Trump administration — through language snuck into the 2017 Tax Bill — is barreling forward to allow oil and gas drilling within this ecologically sensitive wilderness refuge. This destructive move must be halted.
As a volunteer that worked on Rep. Antonio Delgado’s campaign because of my passion about fighting climate change, it’s been very fulfilling for me to watch him become a champion of the effort to protect the Arctic Refuge, and co-sponsor the “Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act” to defend this special place from the fossil fuel industry. I urge the rest of our congressional delegation to do the same. We must keep drills out of the Arctic Refuge.
Rachel Mandelbaum
Croton on Hudson
June 20
