#arctic national wildlife refuge

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Crabeater seal at Palmer Station

A crabeater seal lounging at Palmer Station, Antarctica. Despite their name, crabeater seals only eat Antarctic krill and use their specially shaped teeth to filter out the seawater.

Credit: Mike Lucibella/NSF

#mike lucibella #photographer #national science foundation-ocean observatory initiative #crabeater seal #seal #animal #mammal #arctic national wildlife refuge #palmer station #antarctica #antarctic krill #nature

[cgandrews3]

#alaska #antlers #arctic #arctic national wildlife refuge #biodiversity #canada #candice gaukel andrews #caribou #christmas #christmas 2023 #conservation #environment #holidays #national park service #natural habitat adventures #nathab #nature #north american coastal plain #oil drilling #reindeer #remote #saint nicholas #santa claus #science #science and environment #scientific research #tundra #wild #wildlife #wolves

[wachinyeya]

https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-companies-drilling-leases-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge.html

Three oil companies have canceled their leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Drilling in the refuge has long been a controversial issue, as the 19.5-million-acre wilderness area is home to 45 species of mammals including polar bears, bowhead whales and caribou and considered sacred by the Indigenous Gwich’in people, according to the Gwich’in Steering Committee.

“These exits clearly demonstrate that international companies recognize what we have known all along: drilling in the Arctic Refuge is not worth the economic risk and liability that results from development on sacred lands without the consent of Indigenous Peoples,” the Gwich’in Steering Committee said in a statement.

The Anchorage Daily News first reported Thursday that the oil company Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of 88 Energy, had canceled its lease on the refuge’s coastal plain, as confirmed by the Bureau of Land Management.

“The Bureau of Land Management has a well-established procedure to do this, and last month rescinded and canceled the lease, as requested,” the Interior Department said in a statement reported by the Anchorage Daily News. “The Office of Natural Resources Revenue refunded (the) full bonus bid and first year rentals.”

At the same time, the paper also reported that Hilcorp and Chevron had spent $10 million to exit older leases to land owned by an Alaskan Native coorporation within the refuge.

“Chevron’s decision to formally relinquish its legacy lease position was driven by the goal of prioritizing and focusing our exploration capital in a disciplined manner in the context of our entire portfolio of opportunities,” company spokesperson Deena McMullen told The Hill.

The move follows a game of political football over oil and gas exploration along the refuge’s 1.5 million acre coastal plain. In 2017, Congress passed a law mandating two lease sales in the refuge by 2024, according to The Washington Post. However, when the Trump administration held its first lease sale in the coastal plain in January 2021, Regenerate Alaska was the only oil company to buy a lease, according to the Anchoridge Daily News.

The company’s decision to pull out follows political uncertaintly over the lease, as the Biden administration put a halt to exploration in the refuge and suspended the leases for more study. Indigenous and enviornmental groups also led a campaign against drilling in the refuge, and 29 banks and 14 international insurers have now said they won’t fund drilling in the refuge, according to the Gwich’in Steering Committee.

Some have criticized the Biden administration for delaying the leases, blaming its actions for the companies’ departure.

“The Biden administration continues to tell the American people that they are doing all they can to bring down energy prices,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said, as The Washington Post reported. “Then they take actions that do the exact opposite, especially in Alaska.”

However, environmental groups responded favorably to the news, arguing that drilling in the refuge would be dangerous both to the local ecosystem and the global fight against the climate crisis.

“This is positive news for the climate and the human rights of Indigenous people whose survival depends on a healthy, thriving calving ground for the Porcupine Caribou Herd, and further proves that the oil industry recognizes drilling on sacred lands is bad business,” Wilderness Society Alaska state director Karlin Itchoak said in a statement reported by The Washington Post.

There are two entities that retain leases following the 2021 sale – the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority and an Anchorage real estate investor (AIDEA). However, experts say that it’s unlikely they will be able to develop the land independently, making fossil fuel exploration in the refuge now unlikely. Still, Indigenous activists said they would keep pressure on the remaining lease holders.

“AIDEA must show respect to the Indigenous communities they have been overlooking in Alaska projects,” executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee Bernadette Demientieff said in a statement. “We are spiritually and culturally connected to the land, water and animals. The Gwich’in people and our allies will never stop fighting to protect Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit.”

#good news #nature #alaska #indigenous issues #indigenous people #climate activism #climate hope #climate action #indigenous activism #native alaskans #arctic national wildlife refuge #no more oil #keep it in the ground #Gwich’in #Gwich’in people #big oil

[teachersource]

Margaret Murie was born on August 18, 1902. A naturalist, writer, adventurer, and conservationist dubbed the "Grandmother of the Conservation Movement" by both the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society, she helped in the passage of the Wilderness Act, and was instrumental in creating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She was the recipient of the Audubon Medal, the John Muir Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor awarded by the United States. She and her husband recruited U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to help persuade President Dwight Eisenhower to set aside 8,000,000 acres (32,000 km2) as the Arctic National Wildlife Range, which was expended and renamed in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter.

#margaret murie #conservation #sierra club #arctic national wildlife refuge #presidential medal of freedom #science #science history #science birthdays #on this day #on this day in science history #women in science #women in history

[johnnyslittleanimalblog]

Polar Bear Yearling by David & Shiela Glatz

#Alaska #Apex Predator #Arctic #Arctic Alaska #Arctic Circle #Arctic National Wildlife Refuge #Barter Island #Bear #Beaufort Sea #Carnivore #Glatz Nature Photography #Great White Bear #Ice Bear #Kaktovic #Kaktovik #Nanook #Nanuk #Nanuq #Nature #North America #North Slope #Obligate Carnivore #Polar Bear #Polar Bears #Polar Bears and Northern Lights #Predator #United States #Ursus maritimus #WIld Animal #Wild Bear

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Grist:

On March 4, the fossil fuel company reported an uncontrolled gas leak at the facility. According to ConocoPhillips’ own analysis, an estimated 7.2 million cubic feet of natural gas was released into the atmosphere during the first five days of the leak, equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of over 3,000 cars. Residents in Nuiqsut complained of headaches and nausea. ConocoPhillips brought in industry specialists from Texas with experience fighting oil well fires in Iraq and Kuwait. Then, around noon on March 7, the company decided to evacuate 300 employees from the pad out of “an abundance of caution.” It would take nearly a month before the leak was fully plugged.

While some questions remain unanswered more than six months later, it’s clear now that the gas leak at Alpine illuminated the ways that climate change is amplifying the risks associated with oil and gas drilling in the Arctic — and even creating new ones. Permafrost thaw, which is accelerated by drilling and new construction, played an important role in the leak: In its incident report submitted to the state, ConocoPhillips explained that the heat generated by the injection of drilling fluids deep underground had thawed the permafrost layer — ground that had been frozen for thousands of years — to a depth of about 1,000 feet, which ultimately allowed the gas to reach the surface.

But the problem didn’t end there. This same thawing process had affected some of the neighboring wells — there are about 50 wells on the CD1 pad, each about 10 feet apart — forming what Steve Lewis, a retired petroleum engineer who worked in the region for 20 years, described as a “gas highway,” creating multiple pathways for the gas to migrate. In its report, ConocoPhillips called this phenomenon a “thaw bulb.”

A similar phenomenon is being replicated across Alaska’s North Slope region at a time when the Arctic is warming two to four times faster than the rest of the planet. According to an analysis by researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, more than half of the near-surface permafrost on the North Slope could disappear by 2100 if emissions aren’t curbed. Soil temperatures at Prudhoe Bay, which is about 60 miles east of Nuiqsut, have already warmed by about 6 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1970s.

Permafrost thaw can cause the ground to buckle and in some cases collapse. Roads, pipelines, and well pads could all potentially be compromised and even in some cases rendered unusable, according to Vladimir Romanovsky, a permafrost expert and emeritus professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Portions of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the 800-mile conduit that runs from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez, have already been damaged due to thawing permafrost.

#permafrost #permafrost thaw #ConocoPhillips #Alaska #Willow Project #Alaska oil drilling #Arctic National Wildlife Refuge #National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska

[naturalresourcestoday]

ANWR Protection Bill Introduced

A group of legislators has introduced a bill to protect Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. The bill, if enacted, would designate ANWR’s coastal plain as wilderness. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a Trump administration initiative approved by a Republican-dominated Congress, opened that portion of ANWR to fossil fuel development after decades of controversy…

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#Arctic National Wildlife Refuge #energy #fossil fuels #legislation #oil and gas #wilderness

[environmentalwatch]

Three Oil Companies Drop North Slope Leases

Oil Companies Drop Drilling Leases Amid Environmental Analysis

Three oil companies have canceled their leases to take oil from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), according to the Bureau of Land Management. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a 19.3-million-acre area that occupies the entire northeastern corner of Alaska, called the Alaska North Slope region. It’s the largest wildlife refuge in the country, founded in 1960. It’s also sacred…

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#alaska #alaska north slope #Alaska Oil Drilling #arctic national wildlife refuge #david bernhardt #Gwich&039;in #ryan zinke

[kp777]

"Our sacred land is only temporarily safe from oil and gas development," said one First Nations leader, urging Congress and the White House to "permanently protect the Arctic Refuge."

#arctic national wildlife refuge #oil leases #oil and gas drilling #fossil fuels #gwich'in steering committee #indigenous peoples #u.s. department of interior

[dopescissorscashwagon]

Stay curious, friends! This wee Arctic fox baby explores the coastal tundra and rocky cliffs of Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: courtesy of Peter Pearsall.

#Arctic Fox Baby #Wildlife #Animals #Peter Pearsall #Maritime National Wildlife Refuge #Beautiful #Alaska #Nature

[ms-cellanies]

HIP - HIP - HOORAY. Biden CANCELLED LAST OIL & GAS LEASES IN NATIONAL ARCTIC REFUGE. Trump had approved those leases.

[sitting-on-me-bum]

A polar bear emerges above the ice, Barter Island, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

Photographer: Richard Bernabe

#richard bernabe #photographer #polar bear #bear #ice #barter island #arctic national wildlife refuge #alaska #nature #wildlife

[cgandrews3]

#30 x 30 #alaska #arctic #arctic national wildlife refuge #beavers #biodiversity #birds #bowhead whale #candice gaukel andrews #caribou #climate change #deforestation #endangered species #envrionment #fossil fuels #global warming #greenhouse gases #ipcc #methane #natural habitat adventures #NatHab #nature #nature lovers #oil drilling #permafrost #Porcupine caribou #remote #science #science and environment #scientific research

[wachinyeya]

#good news #nature #science #environmentalism #environment #oil and gas #fossil fuels #alaska

[geeneelee]

Woohoo!!!!!

[ID: New York Times article

Biden Administration to Bar Drilling on Millions of Acres in Alaska

The administration will cancel drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and set aside more than half of the National Petroleum Reserve.

Image of three caribou on a snowy landscape. End ID.]

In its most aggressive move yet to protect millions of acres of pristine Alaskan wilderness from oil and gas exploration, the Biden administration announced it would prohibit drilling in 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve and cancel all the existing leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The new regulations would ensure “maximum protections” for nearly half of the petroleum reserve, but it would not stop the enormous Willow oil drilling project in the same vicinity that President Biden approved this year.

Climate activists, particularly young environmentalists, were angered by Mr. Biden’s decision to allow the Willow project, calling it a “carbon bomb.” Since then, the administration has taken pains to emphasize its efforts to reduce the carbon emissions that result from burning oil and gas and that are driving climate change.

“We have a responsibility to protect this treasured region for all ages,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “Canceling all remaining oil and gas leases issued under the previous administration in the Arctic Refuge and protecting more than 13 million acres in the western Arctic will help preserve our Arctic lands and wildlife, while honoring the culture, history, and enduring wisdom of Alaska Natives who have lived on these lands since time immemorial.”

#did I do the id thing right? #anyway. woo!

[rjzimmerman]

This story from Nation of Change:

Two out of three companies awarded Arctic Refuge oil leases in the government-mandated lease sale in January 2021 have backed out of the deal. Regenerate Alaska terminated their lease in June of 2020, while Knik Arm Services LLC, an Alaska-based company established in 2020, canceled its lease as of recent.

Knik Arm Services’ founder, Mark Graber, confirmed that the request had been to made to the federal government to cancel their oil and gas lease and the company asked for a full refund for the bid and subsequent rental payments.

“The bureau is directing the Office of Natural Resources Revenue to refund KAS’ full bonus bid and lease rental payment,” the Bureau of Land Management said.

This leaves the state agency, Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), as the only remaining lease holder in the refuge—19 million acres of protected wilderness on Alaska’s North Slope. While the coastal plain is where oil-leased lands are located, it is known as the “biological heart” of the refuge because “hundreds of thousands of caribou migrate hundreds of miles annually to give birth there, millions of migratory birds flock there to nest and polar bears den on the coastal plain over the winter,” Environment America reported.

“This is yet more evidence that the January 2021 lease sale was a complete flop. It makes no sense to drill for oil in the Arctic Refuge,” Ellen Montgomery, Public Lands campaign director, said. “Knik Arm Services and the oil companies have all arrived at the same conclusion that drilling in the coastal plain would be a bad business decision. AIDEA should now cancel their leases and leave the refuge to the caribou, birds and other wildlife who rely on the Arctic Refuge for survival. Going forward, we must ensure that the next foolish lease sale is never held.”

#Arctic National Wildlife Refuge #oil and gas leasing #Alaska