A final plan that the government admits will result in extinction of more species, opens the entire coast plain of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge to exploitation by the oil industry. The proposal is the most extreme of three plans presented by the BLM. In its final environmental impact statement, the Interior Department noted that in combination with global warming, to which drilling one of the last great wildernesses on Earth will certainly contribute, birds that nest in the refuge are “already are experiencing decreasing populations, and many could suffer catastrophic consequences from the effects of global climate change in one or more of their seasonal continental or even global habitats...These effects combined with development-related impacts across the ranges of many bird species may result in extinction during the 85-year scope of this analysis.” Over 200 bird species rely on the refuge for survival.
Drilling operations will require the pumping of huge amounts of water from the plain's limited water sources, destroying habitat for waterbirds. Birds are not the only species that will perish. Federally protected polar bears den in the refuge. The noisy intrusion of oil infrastructure will disrupt their reproduction, and more bears will be killed in conflict with humans. The massive caribou herds that migrate to the refuge in summer will also suffer vehicle collisions, and lack of forage. In sum, development of the pristine wilderness poses an existential threat to the entire coastal plain ecosystem.
This aggressive and extreme action by the regime shows, "how far this administration is willing to go to extract oil and gas, even in what should be a protected area,” says the Alaska Audubon's policy director. The oil industry and its political handmaidens have been attempting to open the refuge to development for fifty years. They have been turned back by conservationists several times in high profile political showdowns. A bill finally made it through Congress in 1995, but it was vetoed by Bill Clinton. Ever since the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989, the public has supported protecting the wilderness. A 2017 survey by Yale University shows 70% of respondents oppose drilling in the refuge.
The latest assault by the Nature rapists is seen as an rush effort to breach the sanctuary during the tenure of Il Douche because the existence of approved oil leases will make it more difficult to reverse course in a subsequent administration. The draft environmental impact statement was submitted only eight months after the review began. In its haste, the Interior Department omitted relevant information and altered the findings of its own scientists to downplay adverse impacts. There has been no seismic testing in the refuge to find specific pockets of oil that can be exploited.
Because Alaskans get a hefty annual royalty from oil extraction, many support opening the reserve, but the native Gwich’in people have staunchly opposed exploitation. They hold the immense Porcupine caribou heard as sacred, and subsist on hunting it. Native leaders have condemned the decision to rape the reserve as a demonstration, "that this administration and the Alaska delegation will disregard our way of life, our food, and our relationship with the land, the caribou, and future generations to pander to industry greed.” Congressional Budget Office estimates that lease sales would generate only half of the $1.8 trillion in revenues claimed by the regime. Next door at Prudhoe Bay,
only 18,000 acres have technically been developed, but the overall amount of land that has been disturbed and developed is more like 217,000 acres. The same industrial sprawl or greater is inevitable on the Arctic plain if left unprotected.
Although a deadlocked Congress has passed legislation to protect the refuge from the latest attack, the bills will not pass the Senate where oil industry legislators like Lisa Murkowski, (R-AK), who chairs the Natural Resources Committee, are in control. Conservationists will once again have to resort to litigation to save the last remaining American wilderness. God help them before the eco-fascists turn the Arctic Refuge into another industrial wasteland like the Mississippi Delta.