Three oil companies pull out of Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge

Olivia Rosane, a writer for EcoWatch, reports that three oil companies have canceled their lease in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Gwich’in community and environmental groups have led a campaign to stop the drilling in the refuge. Drilling would be dangerous for the local ecosystem — which is home to 45 species of mammals — and to the global fight against climate change. Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee explains that the Gwich’in people are spiritually and culturally connected to the land, water, and animals, and they will never stop fighting to protect Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit (The Sacred Place Where Life Begins), the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo credit: Johnny Johnson