posted May 28, 2021 07:29 PM
In a letter from Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club: In what seems like a bad dream, the Biden administration just backed the Trump administration's approval of a disastrous drilling project that would extract 100,000 barrels of oil per day from Alaska's north shore.
While the Oval Office's occupant may have changed, the risks to the Arctic—which is already heating up at three times the rate of the rest of the planet—have not. The looming climate crisis, which Joe Biden promised to confront, has not.
Supporter, we must hold the Biden administration to its promise to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. We must push Congress to enact permanent protections for lands in the Arctic and across the country. We must fight for an end to the climate crisis. Can we count on your help at this crucial moment for the Arctic's wildlife and indigenous communities?
Please, start your emergency monthly membership today, so that we can scale up our legal teams and fight for permanent protections for lands from the Arctic.
Climate experts, Indigenous nations and others in our coalition opposed ConocoPhillips' Willow Project for important reasons.
Over its lifetime, the project would create nearly 260 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions—just about equivalent to what 66 coal-fired power plants would produce! Environmental advocates also fear the project would divert the migration of caribou, impacting local communities' ability to provide food for their families.
Moreover, the project—which would include 250 wells, a processing facility, hundreds of miles of pipelines and roads, even an airstrip—could negatively impact polar bears, fish and other vulnerable species, and change Alaska's pristine northern reaches forever.2
Public lands across the country were carved up and divvied out to the highest bidder by the Trump administration. This is a time to protect and heal these lands, not open them wide for more drilling and spilling.
Please, help us protect vulnerable ecosystems and vulnerable communities—and stop projects like these with an emergency gift now.
Thanks for your attention and commitment at this critical moment. President Biden promised to do better by the planet—and with your support, we're going to hold him to it.