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Halt the Sale of Wild Alaskan Wetlands: Save Teshekpuk Lake!
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| photo: Subhankar Banerjee |
The delicate habitat surrounding northern Alaska’s Teshekpuk Lake, one of the most wild, diverse, and fragile ecosystems in North America, has been protected from oil and gas development as a “special area” for nearly three decades. Until now. . .
Despite the objections of local and international conservationists, Alaska natives, scientists, and sportsmen, the Bush administration has scheduled the first lease sale in the Teshekpuk Lake area for this September.
Please, take action immediately to tell Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne that some places are just too special to be sold to the highest bidder. Oil and gas development in Teshekpuk lake would be a national shame and an environmental catastrophe, and should be canceled.
Hurry! The sale is scheduled for September 27!
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| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Please cancel the Teshekpuk Lake area sale
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am writing to request that you cancel the proposed lease sale of lands in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, including wetlands within the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area.
The habitat surrounding Teshekpuk Lake, one of the most wild, diverse, and fragile ecosystems in North America, has been protected as a "special area" for nearly three decades. Opening this wildlife haven for lease to oil and gas companies would be a national shame and an environmental catastrophe.
Some areas are simply too special to be leased to the highest bidder. As Secretary of the Interior, you have the responsibility to protect these ecologically significant lands from destructive oil exploration, and to prevent energy companies from launching projects that would have devastating and lasting consequences for the local environment.
Secretary Kempthorne, please use your authority to stop the planned September lease sale in the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
August 29, 2006
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 First established by President Warren Harding in 1923, the remote National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is a 23-million-acre area of federal lands about the size of Indiana, located on the North Slope of Alaska. The government has long agreed that special areas of the Reserve are too important to be opened up to oil drilling.
Now, however, the Bush administration is rolling back decades of environmental protection for some of North America’s most ecologically important and sensitive areas in an endless pursuit of oil.
The Teshekpuk Lake and surrounding wetlands in the northern reaches of the Reserve were first designated a “special area” in 1977. This afforded the area the maximum protection against any development that could harm the wildlife habitat or the culture of Alaskan natives.
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Earthjustice has long been working through the courts to protect Alaska’s pristine public lands, including Teshekpuk Lake and the northwestern and northeastern portions of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. |
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Learn more about our other efforts in Alaska:
| The Teshekpuk Lake Special Area is a true wildlife haven. It contains the entire calving ground of the 45,000 member Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd as well as the largest goose molting population in the Artic. It supports migratory birds from six continents, comprising the highest density of nesting waterfowl and shorebirds in the Reserve.
The Reserve is 110 miles west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, another target of drilling enthusiasts. But while Congress has repeatedly refused to allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge, the Reserve has been made increasingly available to oil and gas development over the last few years:
- In 1998, then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt permitted an oil and gas leasing plan that specifically excluded the area around Teshekpuk Lake.
- The Bush administration then pushed to discard the Babbitt plan and open more of the Reserve to drilling, and in 2004 the Bureau of Land Management released a proposal to open up 96 percent of the Northeast Planning Area for oil and gas exploration.
- Despite massive public opposition, the plan was adopted and even extended by the administration in January 2006 to open 100 percent of the Northeast Planning Area for leasing, including the entire Teshekpuk Lake Special Area.
Despite a tradition of preservation, the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area now faces a serious threat from the administration’s plan to lease to oil and gas companies. This short-sighted proposal ignores the complaints of Alaskan natives, conservation groups, the EPA, scientists, and even concerned sportsmen groups. If the wetlands surrounding Teshekpuk Lake are leased in September, this pristine and unparalleled Arctic habitat may soon be transformed in to a network of pipelines, roads, and drilling platforms.
 Because the Reserve is a publicly-owned Reserve managed by the Bureau of Land Management, you have the right to make your voice heard on this issue. Please take a few moments to tell Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, that the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area is too important to open up to oil and gas exploration and must remain protected.
To send your own message directly to the Department of Interior, please write to:
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240
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