WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2019) Trump administration plans to open the US Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration would be scuttled under legislation announced by a group of Democratic US Senators on Wednesday.
"The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Climate change is putting the entire region at risk," Senator Edward Markey said in a press release. "We don't need to make it worse by disrupting and drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, especially to produce more oil that will only worsen the climate crisis."
The proposed legislation would designate the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness under the national wilderness preservation system, effectively outlawing energy production, the release said.
The 2017 US tax bill contains a provision to allow drilling in ANWR's coastal plain and the Trump administration says it plans to conduct the first lease sales after completing an environmental impact assessment.
The 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain, while a small part of the 19.6 million acre refuge, nevertheless represents the "biological heart" of ANWR, the release said.
The plain supports more than 250 species, including caribou, polar bears, grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines and migratory birds, the release added.
The legislation was introduced by Senators Markey, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Michael Bennet, Maria Cantwell and Tom Udall.
