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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!

# 32,450:

9:12 pm PDT, May 21, Iain Caldwell, Canada

# 32,449:

8:55 pm PDT, May 21, Elke Alias Gypsy, Australia

# 32,448:

8:40 pm PDT, May 21, Elaine James, Australia

# 32,447:

8:19 pm PDT, May 21, Kelly High, Australia

# 32,446:

7:31 pm PDT, May 21, Pradip Singh, India

# 32,445:

7:28 pm PDT, May 21, Jill Knight, Canada

# 32,444:

7:24 pm PDT, May 21, Sandra Templeman, Australia

# 32,443:

7:07 pm PDT, May 21, Sophie Ransom, Australia

# 32,442:

7:05 pm PDT, May 21, Eric Goodman, Florida
Treat Alaska like a National Petroleum Reserve. Hold onto all that stuff just where it is. We already own it. We don't have to buy it from Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. We know it's there in case some day way off in the distant future perhaps we really really really need it. But for now, let's just be smarter about how we use oil. Which basically means - stop using it, you stupid political crackheads. And Leave ANWR the f**k alone.

# 32,441:

6:29 pm PDT, May 21, Resty Umali, Philippines

# 32,440:

6:20 pm PDT, May 21, Sera Dixon, Oregon

# 32,439:

6:16 pm PDT, May 21, Janie Rabel, West Virginia

# 32,438:

5:50 pm PDT, May 21, Marco Guidobono, Canada

# 32,437:

5:48 pm PDT, May 21, Vistas International House, Mexico

# 32,436:

5:42 pm PDT, May 21, Yntegra Asociados, Mexico

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5:36 pm PDT, May 21, Frederico Mesquita, Brazil

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5:37 pm PDT, May 21, Name not displayed, Mexico

# 32,433:

5:32 pm PDT, May 21, Pauline Oldham, Australia

# 32,432:

5:21 pm PDT, May 21, Maria Rita Borba, Brazil

# 32,431:

5:20 pm PDT, May 21, Sandra Castillo, Germany

# 32,430:

5:19 pm PDT, May 21, Brenda Hanlon, Australia

# 32,429:

5:06 pm PDT, May 21, Joolz Elvines, New Zealand
we need to look after this planet for us and future generations

# 32,428:

4:54 pm PDT, May 21, Adrian Windisch, United Kingdom

# 32,427:

4:50 pm PDT, May 21, Meaghan Frost, Australia

# 32,426:

4:44 pm PDT, May 21, Francisco Zuno, Mexico

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4:42 pm PDT, May 21, Rose Dupras, Canada

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4:25 pm PDT, May 21, Maria Glicinia Ferreira, Portugal

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4:06 pm PDT, May 21, Safiyyah Mahomed, Canada

# 32,422:

3:57 pm PDT, May 21, Maria Bellams, Morocco

# 32,421:

3:46 pm PDT, May 21, Gowri Hari, New Mexico

# 32,420:

3:44 pm PDT, May 21, Name not displayed, United Kingdom

# 32,419:

3:44 pm PDT, May 21, Kate Waddell-wells, Canada

# 32,418:

3:33 pm PDT, May 21, Wendy Wiseman, United Kingdom

# 32,417:

3:16 pm PDT, May 21, Indeana Underhill, Canada

# 32,416:

3:17 pm PDT, May 21, Amanda Savieri, Australia

# 32,415:

2:59 pm PDT, May 21, Akiko Inoue, Massachusetts

# 32,414:

2:43 pm PDT, May 21, Martin Firrell, United Kingdom

# 32,413:

2:24 pm PDT, May 21, Angela Harrap, Netherlands

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2:21 pm PDT, May 21, Jackie Quinn, United Kingdom

# 32,411:

2:21 pm PDT, May 21, Christine Smith, Australia

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2:20 pm PDT, May 21, Suzanne Smith, Canada

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2:19 pm PDT, May 21, Fernanda Olmedo, Ecuador

# 32,408:

2:09 pm PDT, May 21, Lauryn Drainie, Canada

# 32,407:

1:58 pm PDT, May 21, Natalie Droguett Woods, Ireland

# 32,406:

1:50 pm PDT, May 21, Nicole Vardon, United Kingdom

# 32,405:

1:45 pm PDT, May 21, Claire Bellenis, United Kingdom

# 32,404:

1:28 pm PDT, May 21, Elizabeth Longley, United Kingdom

# 32,403:

1:22 pm PDT, May 21, Wanda Sobieraj, Poland

# 32,402:

1:19 pm PDT, May 21, Ronny Hiltbrunner, Switzerland

# 32,401:

12:57 pm PDT, May 21, Patricia Haley, United Kingdom

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