Grandmothers Growing Goodness Condemns Plans to Open Up Western Arctic to Oil + Gas Development

Over 250,000 Comments Submitted Telling Trump to Protect the Western Arctic 

(Nuiqsut, Alaska) — The Trump Administration’s comment period on its proposal to roll back protections for 13 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (NPR-A) officially concluded. Over 250,000 people spoke out against the Trump Administration’s plans to strip vital protections for Indigenous communities, iconic landscapes like Teshekpuk Lake, wildlife, and so much more, all to open up more of America’s Arctic for oil and gas drilling. Grandmothers Growing Goodness, Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA), and Native Movement submitted comments expressing strong opposition to any rescission or weakening of the 2024 NPR-A Rule.

“The NPR-A, the region we depend on, is under threat. From this Administration attempting to take away protections that are essential to sustaining our health and livelihoods to Congress mandating oil and gas lease sales on our vulnerable lands, we are extremely concerned about what is to come. Rolling back these protections while expanding oil and gas leasing will do nothing but gravely harm the local people, wildlife, and the environment,” said Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Executive Director of Grandmothers Growing Goodness.

These safeguards were finalized last year to protect the food security, cultural traditions, and health of communities on the North Slope from the expansion of oil and gas development. They were developed in collaboration with robust input from scientists, wildlife experts, and Indigenous communities.

The Western Arctic is facing more devastating threats, including drilling this winter and Congressionally mandated lease sales that would harm the Indigenous communities and wildlife that rely on a healthy Arctic landscape for their subsistence, way of life, and habitat.