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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!

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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!

# 29,300:

12:09 am PDT, May 13, Rashid Al-mulla, Qatar

# 29,299:

12:08 am PDT, May 13, Marion Dove, United Kingdom

# 29,298:

12:04 am PDT, May 13, Irene Ng, Malaysia

# 29,297:

11:56 pm PDT, May 12, Angus Bungay, Canada
'Fossil fuels' the name says it all ... drilling for oil is old hat people ... your money would be better spent figuring out how to protect the enviroment you plan to destroy. The world needs more caretakers not oil wells!!

# 29,296:

11:51 pm PDT, May 12, Mega Panettiere, United Kingdom

# 29,295:

11:50 pm PDT, May 12, Willow Ellis, Canada

# 29,294:

11:27 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, Switzerland
we can't eternally empty the earth's stomach.

# 29,293:

11:24 pm PDT, May 12, Katja Joeck, Germany

# 29,292:

11:08 pm PDT, May 12, Patricia Whitesel, New Mexico
The Fish and Wildlife Service appears to consistently work for the oil, gas and land development interests, without a sense of responsibility to future generations and the delicate fish and wildlife populations that live in Yukon flats. Please stop appropriating the community resources that belong to all the American people to give to the land developers, corporations and oil and gas interests. I have grand children and hope they will be able to see Yukon flats some day without the oil & drilling interests destroying its pristine beauty and delicate eco system.

# 29,291:

10:59 pm PDT, May 12, Winter Summer, China

# 29,290:

10:58 pm PDT, May 12, Patricia Newson, Canada

# 29,289:

10:56 pm PDT, May 12, Bilal Vhora, India

# 29,288:

10:45 pm PDT, May 12, Jean McCormick, United Kingdom

# 29,287:

10:44 pm PDT, May 12, Svetlana Yaneva, Bulgaria

# 29,286:

10:23 pm PDT, May 12, Sheherazade Bourali, Belgium

# 29,285:

10:21 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, Illinois
I am opposed to oil drilling in the Yukon Flats Refuge which was established for conservation purposes. The decision to drill for oil and gas development is not consistent with the original intent of this refuge. I understand that taking a stand against Big Business may not be politically correct, but I am asking you to do that which is Morally Correct.... Please take a stand for the environment.. The only true wealth of a nation lies in the preservation of its ecosystems -- the clean air, clean water and soil.... the wealth of biodiversity that we may leave to future generations. Short term oil profits will not buy back the environment. One need only look at the way in which the Exxon Valdez clean up has progressed to see the way in which the oil industry pollutes an area ... and then runs away from the responsibility to clean up this environmental devastation. By opening up yet another wildlife refuge, another door will be opening for future oil catastrophes.

# 29,284:

10:19 pm PDT, May 12, Tania Ramon, Ecuador

# 29,283:

10:16 pm PDT, May 12, Lidiya Govorchenko, Russian Federation

# 29,282:

10:16 pm PDT, May 12, Lin Luker, California

# 29,281:

10:16 pm PDT, May 12, Rebecca Lee, Singapore

# 29,280:

10:10 pm PDT, May 12, Louise Schultze, Australia

# 29,279:

9:59 pm PDT, May 12, Mark Smith, California

# 29,278:

9:55 pm PDT, May 12, Anemone Fitz, Austria

# 29,277:

9:45 pm PDT, May 12, Tickey Makgopela, Washington

# 29,276:

9:36 pm PDT, May 12, Ed Moore, California

# 29,275:

9:25 pm PDT, May 12, Valentina Kimovska, Australia

# 29,274:

9:23 pm PDT, May 12, Mark Weich, Japan

# 29,273:

9:18 pm PDT, May 12, Nina Powers, Texas

# 29,272:

9:09 pm PDT, May 12, Jeannie Teo, Malaysia
For the sake of the environment & wildlife, PLEASE BAN oil drilling activities in Alaska.

# 29,271:

9:06 pm PDT, May 12, Silvia Charuco Sagastume, Guatemala

# 29,270:

8:58 pm PDT, May 12, Paula James, Canada

# 29,269:

8:55 pm PDT, May 12, Mike Veale, California

# 29,268:

8:54 pm PDT, May 12, Amanda Jaffray, Canada

# 29,267:

8:53 pm PDT, May 12, Raymond Wood, California

# 29,266:

8:46 pm PDT, May 12, Margaret Nicholls, Canada

# 29,265:

8:41 pm PDT, May 12, Gayle Seitz, Wisconsin

# 29,264:

8:32 pm PDT, May 12, Samantha Klod, Illinois

# 29,263:

8:31 pm PDT, May 12, Tomara Dickerson, Kentucky

# 29,262:

8:29 pm PDT, May 12, Jennifer Smith, Alabama

# 29,261:

8:24 pm PDT, May 12, Susan Caldwell, New Zealand

# 29,260:

8:18 pm PDT, May 12, Karina Aguilar, Chile

# 29,259:

8:15 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, Australia

# 29,258:

8:13 pm PDT, May 12, Andreas Kuntz, Canada

# 29,257:

8:10 pm PDT, May 12, Name not displayed, Australia
Death and decay is all you will get from doing that, sure you might get oil and that helps the ecconomy, but in this day and age it will only boost it for a short time and inevitably the economy will crash harder. It's futile to try to boost something that already doesn't work right, I say if they have any excuses tear them down and see the truth. NO drilling!

# 29,256:

8:07 pm PDT, May 12, Trevor Lackey, Vermont

# 29,255:

8:03 pm PDT, May 12, Ben Basin, Oregon

# 29,254:

7:51 pm PDT, May 12, Melissa Graff, New Jersey

# 29,253:

7:50 pm PDT, May 12, Jamie McGuire, Florida

# 29,252:

7:45 pm PDT, May 12, Jason Brink, Georgia

# 29,251:

7:44 pm PDT, May 12, Robin Dein, Wisconsin

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