1. United States
2. Mont.
3. Letter

I am again writing to you as a very concerned constituent strongly urging you to vote against H.J. Res 131, S.J.Res.91, and H.J. 124. Using a CRA to overturn either the 2024 Record of Decision (ROD) for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or the 2022 Integrated Activity Plan (IAP) for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) will cause regulatory uncertainty and risks insurmountable harm to some of our country’s last remaining ecological safe havens. If H.J. Res 131 or S.J.Res.91 passes, it would remove current restrictions limiting oil and gas leasing on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Trump administration issued a new ROD for the Refuge in October that opens the entire coastal plain to oil and gas leasing, like Trump previously tried to do in 2020. This move by Congress essentially doubles down on the stripping of protections for the Refuge coastal plain that are already underway by the Trump administration- and that had been voted down many times in past administrations, AND which has historically been opposed by the American people. Similar threats face us if H.J. Res 124 passes. These resolutions threaten to overturn protections for nearly 13 million acres of land in the Western Arctic including ecologically important Special Areas like Teshekpuk Lake. We cannot risk the harm to our climate, wildlife, and Indigenous people that these CRAs could cause. Decades of thoughtful advocacy and research support protections for the Western Arctic, and any attempt to undo them clearly shows that our administration puts profits over people. Even during the government shutdown, the government chose to prioritize actions that benefit oil and gas companies and harm the rest of us. I beg you to consider who you were elected to represent. It was the people you serve- not the big businesses. Anyone who votes in support of these CRAs is allowing corporate polluters to supersede the interests of the public and is out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans. It is time that Congress goes back to work protecting the Arctic Refuge, the Western Arctic, and the American people. I once again urge you to vote against these resolutions and stand up for the Arctic.