Care2 member? Log in

Stop Oil Drilling in Alaska Wildlife Refuge!

Target: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Regional Director Tom Melius
Sponsored by: The Wilderness Society

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering allowing oil development on a core parcel of the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

This land, vital habitat to millions of migratory birds, moose, Dall sheep and bears is on the threshold of being ruined by roads, pipelines, and pollution.

What's at stake here?

An enormous wetland basin of rivers and lakes that is habitat for marten, wild salmon, moose, bears, wolves and more,
A base for hundreds of species of migratory birds, and
Native cultures that have relied on the region's resources for millennia.

This special place in America would be irreparably damaged if oil exploration and development is allowed, bringing with it roads, traffic, pipelines, oil spills and pollution.

We have until May 15 to tell the Fish and Wildlife Service that oil drilling has no place in this critical ecosystem. Please sign this petition today!

deadline: 5-15-2008
goal: 30,000

32,535
signatures!

Sign Petition! see who signed this

log in
The comment period for this issue has ended. Thank you for your interest. Please click here for more petitions.

Dear Tom Melius, Regional Director,

Thank you very much for the opportunity to comment on the Yukon Flats proposed land exchange Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). I am writing to express my deep concerns and opposition to this proposal.

The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge (Yukon Flats Refuge) encompasses 11 million acres of some of the most productive Arctic wildlife habitat in North America. The wetlands, river floodplains and forested lowlands of the refuge support the highest density of breeding ducks in Alaska, along with three species of salmon and hundreds of other birds, mammals and fish species. Native Gwich'in Athabascan people have relied on these resources for thousands of years, and subsistence activities continue to define the cultural and social fabric of the eight native villages located in and near the Refuge.

The proposed land exchange would transfer close to 200,000 acres of surface and subsurface lands within the refuge in the center of the agency's recommended wilderness area and adjacent to the Congressionally designated Wild Beaver Creek corridor, to a for-profit corporation, Doyon, Ltd. (Doyon). Doyon hopes to transform this intact, wild ecosystem into a major industrial development for oil and gas extraction. If realized, this plan will irreparably harm and fragment the refuge. For example, up to 600 miles of roads and pipeline access routes across the refuge may be developed according to the EIS. Not only will the Yukon Flats be cut up into many small pieces by roads and pipelines, it will also be transformed into a major industrial development zone, no longer resembling a National Wildlife Refuge.

There are also far-reaching deficiencies in the DEIS. These include that the appraisal and land values information regarding the exchange lands is not included in the DEIS, which makes it virtually impossible for the public to be able to comment on whether or not this exchange is of equal-value and/or in the public's best interest. Also, there is insufficient information regarding the current and future effects of climate change on the Yukon Flats Refuge and how oil and gas development will alter and accelerate these effects. Finally, the impacts analysis in the DEIS is deficient as it does not fully reveal all of the impacts of this very significant proposed industrial development on the Refuge or to the people and cultures existing within and near the Refuge.

I strongly oppose the proposed land exchange because it will facilitate sprawling oil and gas development on vital habitat that has been set aside for protection in the Yukon Flats Refuge. Oil and gas development will bring roads, pipelines, air and vehicle traffic, air and water quality problems, harm to subsistence cultures that have existed in this region for thousands of years, and threats to the entire Yukon river watershed, including the designated Wild Beaver Creek and White-Crazy Mountain Recommended Wilderness area. Oil and gas development is not compatible with the purposes for which the refuge was established. Indeed, the Service currently does not allow oil and gas development on refuge lands.

I urge you to fulfill your agency's legal obligations to conserve and protect the lands within the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, including the Wild Beaver Creek drainage, by choosing the No Action alternative.

[Your comment]

Thank you very much for considering my comments.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

We signed the “Stop Oil Drilling in Alaska Wildlife Refuge!” petition!

# 29,250:

7:39 pm PDT, May 12, Bill Realph, Australia

# 29,249:

7:13 pm PDT, May 12, Jackie Stirling, Canada

# 29,248:

7:01 pm PDT, May 12, Becky Liu, Australia

# 29,247:

6:59 pm PDT, May 12, Martha Turner, Tennessee

# 29,246:

6:50 pm PDT, May 12, Giovanna Cevenini, Italy

# 29,245:

6:42 pm PDT, May 12, Michelle Willems, Australia

# 29,244:

6:39 pm PDT, May 12, Peter Asimov, New York

# 29,243:

6:36 pm PDT, May 12, Kelly Moyer, Nebraska

# 29,242:

6:25 pm PDT, May 12, Ryan Smith, Illinois

# 29,241:

6:21 pm PDT, May 12, Christine Ko, Hong Kong
Can't we just leave the animals alone? Leave them alone. Making money is good, but, there's something much more important than that. Go drill other places, for heaven's sake.

# 29,240:

6:12 pm PDT, May 12, Wistar Craighill, Virginia
This region is one of the few truly pristine places left in the world. It would be incredibly short-sighted to drill in this region. Please guard this site for future generations - it is so important. We simply can't afford to lose this place to drilling and development.

# 29,239:

6:12 pm PDT, May 12, John O'Brien, Pennsylvania

# 29,238:

6:12 pm PDT, May 12, Tammy Frost, Australia

# 29,237:

6:09 pm PDT, May 12, Joy Bell, Canada

# 29,236:

6:08 pm PDT, May 12, Sharon Manns, Minnesota

# 29,235:

6:07 pm PDT, May 12, Nancy Bissell, Washington

# 29,234:

6:00 pm PDT, May 12, Crystal Conklin, Arizona

# 29,233:

5:49 pm PDT, May 12, Monica Espinosa, Mexico

# 29,232:

5:38 pm PDT, May 12, Susan Harless, Mexico
Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come. ~Albert Schweitzer

# 29,231:

5:37 pm PDT, May 12, Anabelle Prescott, Venezuela

# 29,230:

5:35 pm PDT, May 12, Bet Metcalfe, Canada

# 29,229:

5:16 pm PDT, May 12, Sonia Adams, Washington
When the Animals and Fish are gone, it will make little difference that we have taken them off the face of the earth for a short time more of oil consumption. All life is sacred. Keep out of the Wildlife Refuge. Refuge means REFUGE!

# 29,228:

5:13 pm PDT, May 12, David Peters, United Kingdom

# 29,227:

5:12 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, Canada
The animals need their habitat!

# 29,226:

4:58 pm PDT, May 12, Jacob Runnalls, South Dakota

# 29,225:

4:58 pm PDT, May 12, Cara Mason, California

# 29,224:

4:54 pm PDT, May 12, Sandra Couch, Illinois

# 29,223:

4:53 pm PDT, May 12, Roseanne Sabol, Connecticut

# 29,222:

4:52 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, Massachusetts

# 29,221:

4:49 pm PDT, May 12, Eli Rosas, Mexico

# 29,220:

4:48 pm PDT, May 12, Jorge Vargas, Chile

# 29,219:

4:43 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, New York

# 29,218:

4:42 pm PDT, May 12, Maria Del S Pacheco Fernandez, Puerto Rico

# 29,217:

4:42 pm PDT, May 12, Rhea Ogbac, Palau

# 29,216:

4:37 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, Florida
This country is already too crowded, we are killing our wildlife for more housing, oil and who knows what else the government wants and needs. Please stop animals nned a plae to live. Just like we do.

# 29,215:

4:34 pm PDT, May 12, Dean Kap, Utah

# 29,214:

4:32 pm PDT, May 12, Tracy Ladd, California

# 29,213:

4:24 pm PDT, May 12, Anne Edward, United Kingdom

# 29,212:

4:04 pm PDT, May 12, Marina Hastuti, Indonesia

# 29,211:

3:58 pm PDT, May 12, Laura MacMillan, Michigan
protect fish and wildlife habitat

# 29,210:

3:49 pm PDT, May 12, Debra Singer, California
We have polluted and destroyed enough natural habitat in the world. Developing this land would cause more harm than benefit. The Yukon Flats Refuge should be preserved in its entirety and we should work on habitat renewal, not more short-sighted development.

# 29,209:

3:34 pm PDT, May 12, Sarah Panullo, Pennsylvania

# 29,208:

3:31 pm PDT, May 12, Shelby G., California

# 29,207:

3:30 pm PDT, May 12, Donna Chappell, Florida

# 29,206:

3:28 pm PDT, May 12, Ola Rudnik, Poland

# 29,205:

3:28 pm PDT, May 12, Jane Feagan, United Kingdom

# 29,204:

3:27 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, California
Please stop this now! We are rapidly losing more and more of our wildlife and natural resources because of reasons such as this! Before long we will have nothing left of the beauty and wonder that we once were.

# 29,203:

3:20 pm PDT, May 12, Lorinda Rhodes, California
Something must be preserved or we have no history to teach the next generation

# 29,202:

3:20 pm PDT, May 12, Ariel Sierra, California

# 29,201:

3:11 pm PDT, May 12, Martha Gibson, Virginia
How many times do we have to demand that the Artic Region be PROTECTED!!!

View Signatures:
|<
<
32,546
32,500
32,450
...
29,350
29,300
29,250
29,200
29,150
...
150
100
50
>
>|