Stop Trump From Fast-Tracking Arctic Drilling

Donald Trump’s Interior Department wants to make it easier to drill in Alaska’s Arctic — by letting some oil and gas exploration move forward without the usual project-specific environmental review that could expose the damage.

Interior is preparing to allow certain winter exploration activities in the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska to qualify for a “categorical exclusion” under the National Environmental Policy Act. That could allow seismic surveys, exploratory drilling and related activities to proceed without the more detailed environmental analysis normally used to identify potential harms and alternatives.

And that’s not all.

The administration is also moving quickly on a 30-year renewal of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, the massive 800-mile pipeline that carries oil from Alaska’s North Slope to the port of Valdez. Yet the public is getting just 15 days — through September 10 — to weigh in on a decision that could keep this oil artery operating for decades.

Together, these moves could help enable decades more fossil fuel extraction in one of the fastest-warming regions on Earth.

This is exactly where environmental review matters most.

Alaska is warming dramatically faster than the global average. Arctic sea ice is disappearing, permafrost is thawing and ecosystems are being transformed. Expanding fossil fuel development threatens to add still more climate pollution while industrializing increasingly vulnerable landscapes.

The wildlife stakes are enormous, too.

The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska contains some of America’s most important remaining Arctic habitat. Polar bears den along Alaska’s northern coast. Vast caribou herds move across the tundra. Millions of migratory birds depend on Arctic wetlands and other habitats.

Heavy seismic vehicles, roads, drilling pads, pipelines and other industrial activity can disturb wildlife and damage or fragment habitat. Those impacts deserve careful examination before projects are allowed to move forward — not a bureaucratic shortcut designed to make drilling easier.

Environmental review is critical to preserving our land and wildlife for future generations. We cannot allow the Trump administration to treat it as a mere obstacle to oil industry profits.

Please sign the petition and tell Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: Stop fast-tracking Arctic oil and gas development and protect meaningful environmental review.

The petition to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum reads: Stop rushing oil and gas development in Alaska’s Arctic. Abandon efforts to exempt drilling and exploration activities from appropriate project-specific environmental review, ensure meaningful public and Indigenous participation, and fully examine environmental, wildlife and climate impacts before approving new drilling or long-term fossil fuel infrastructure on America’s public lands.

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Sources:

www.sej.org/headlines/trump-doi-moves-fast-track-arctic-drilling-without-environmental-review

www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-preparing-ease-environmental-reviews-alaska-oil-gas-drilling-2026-08-26/

insideclimatenews.org/news/28082026/trump-administration-speeds-up-alaska-pipeline-environmental-review/