SENATE GOP SENDS TRUMP BILL HANING ARCTIC REFUGE TO BIG OIL.

Climate campaigners, conservationists, and Indigenous people vowed to keep defending the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge after US Senate Republicans on Dec. 4 sent legislation that would restart fossil fuel leasing in ANWR’s Coastal Plain to President Donald Trump’s desk, Jessica Corbett noted at CommonDreams (12/4).

All Republicans present except Sen. Susan Collins of Maine supported House Joint Resolution 131. The 49-45 vote came after three Democrats—Reps. Jim Costa (Calif.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), and Vicente Gonzalez (Texas)—joined all GOP House members but Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) in advancing the bill in November.

If Big Oil-backed Trump signs the joint resolution of disapproval, as expected, it will nullify the Biden administration’s December 2024 efforts to protect over 1 million acres of land in Alaska from planet-wrecking oil and gas exploration.

“Simply put, the Arctic refuge is the crown jewel of the American National Wildlife Refuge System,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said in a Dec. 3 floor speech against the measure, noting that the area is “home to hundreds of iconic wildlife species.”

“The Arctic refuge is also deeply connected to the traditions and daily life of the people who have lived there for thousands of years,” the senator continued, ripping “the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on public lands.”

Heinrich’s speech was welcomed by groups including the Alaska Wilderness League, League of Conservation Voters, and Defenders of Wildlife, whose vice president of government relations, Robert Dewey, also blasted lawmakers’ use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the refuge’s protections.

“Once again, oil and gas development is taking precedence over science-based solutions for conserving wildlife and mitigating climate change. In these instances, the use of the CRA accomplishes nothing meaningful and instead harms iconic species such as polar bears, caribou, wolves, and migratory birds,” Dewey said after the vote. “In addition to threatening wildlife, severe regulatory disruption in Alaska is the inevitable result of targeted rollbacks in one of America’s most ecologically critical regions.”