Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation condemns Trump Administration’s continued push for drilling in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN) strongly condemns the Trump Administration’s continued effort to bring oil and gas development to the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the heart of the nursery grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd known to the Gwich’in as Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit—The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.

Just last month, the U.S. Secretary of Interior announced that his Department will take steps to reinstate a leasing program set up during the first Trump Administration that would open the entire Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing. The announcement is in lock step with President Trump’s day one Executive Order which seeks to industrialize Alaska to the fullest extent possible. There is also growing speculation that the U.S. Congress will use budget reconciliation to force additional lease sales in the Coastal Plain. Budget reconciliation allows certain tax and spending legislation to pass with a simple majority of 51 votes in the U.S Senate, instead of the 60 votes that are usually required. 

This reckless oil and gas agenda not only ignores clear signals that the industry is not interested in drilling in the Coastal Plain—as demonstrated by two failed lease sales and the abandonment of legacy leases—it disregards the rights of the Gwich’in Nation and the will of the American people.

The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation was also disheartened by the recent U.S. District Court of Alaska ruling that reinstated previously cancelled oil and gas leases issued to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA). These oil and gas leases, covering more than 350,000 acres of ecologically diverse and highly sensitive tundra in the Coastal Plain, were acquired by AIDEA in the lease sale carried out during Trump’s first presidency. 

The Biden Administration cancelled AIDEA’s leases in 2021 after determining that the environmental review process leading to their sale was conducted unlawfully. The U.S.District Court of Alaska ruling did not challenge that decision. Instead, the judge ruled that the Biden Administration, acting through the Department of Interior, failed to procure a court order to cancel AIDEA’s leases in accordance with the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976. 

The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation is deeply disappointed that the U.S. District Court of Alaska made this ruling on a procedural technicality, while overlooking the fundamental legal and moral arguments against the original issuance of the leases to AIDEA in 2021.

Eager to cater to President Trump’s dream of American global energy dominance, it is now clear that his Administration will continue to use a range of unjust tactics in an effort to bring industrial-scale oil and gas development to the Coastal Plain. 

In the face of these actions, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation—together with our Gwich’in relatives in Alaska and the Northwest Territories and with our allies and partners around the world—remain united in our commitment to protect the sacred lands of Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit.

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Quotes:

“We were shocked to hear that the U.S. District Court of Alaska decided to reinstate AIDEA’s 2021 oil and gas leases in the Coastal Plain on the basis of a procedural technicality. These leases were initially granted to AIDEA during the first Trump Presidency through a rushed and deeply flawed process that ignored our knowledge, our voices, and our rights, and broke numerous U.S. laws.”

“For thousands of years, Gwich’in have lived alongside the Porcupine caribou herd. Its survival has guaranteed our own. Now that the United States government has cleared a path for oil and gas development in the Coastal Plain—the heart of the Porcupine caribou nursery grounds—the herd’s future is uncertain. This is why we will not rest until we have secured permanent protection of Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit for all future generations.”

—Chief Pauline Frost, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation

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Media Inquiries:

Gyde Shepherd (he/him), Communications Manager
Executive Office, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation
‍gyde.shepherd@vgfn.ca | (613) 804-4273 

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Previous Related VGFN Statements:

• Statement (January 23, 2025) - Our Work is Not Done – Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation responds to reckless actions by President Trump 
• Statement (January 9, 2025) - Failure of second Arctic National Wildlife Refuge lease sale confirms oil and gas industry knows that threatening the Refuge is bad for business 
• Statement (December 11, 2024) - Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation responds to announcement of second lease sale of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 
• Statement (November 7, 2024) - Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation remains steadfast in its commitment to secure permanent protection for the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

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Background: 

• On December 22, 2017, the first Trump Administration used budget reconciliation to pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which mandated two lease sales in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge) for oil and gas development ‘by not later than 10 years after the date of enactment’. 
• Following this, the Trump Administration rushed towards development, completing an Environmental Impact Statement (“EIS”) and the multi-step lease sale process before holding a lease sale of the Refuge on January 6, 2021. Nine leases, for over 400,000 acres of the Refuge were issued to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), Knik Arm Services LLC and Regenerate Alaska Inc. 
• The first lease sale generated $14.4 million in initial bid with actual revenue now standing at $9.7 million - less than 1% of the projections that proponents for drilling in the Refuge made in 2017 to support its inclusion in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.  
• On his first day in office In January of 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order which placed a temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities in the Refuge and in June 2021, the Department of Interior suspended the leases in the Refuge pending a comprehensive analysis of environmental impacts.
• Since this time, Knik Arm Services LLC and Regenerate Alaska Inc. cancelled their leases and the Department of Interior cancelled the remaining leases held by AIDEA acknowledging the 2021 lease sale was seriously flawed and based on a number of legal deficiencies. 
• After completing a Supplemental environmental review and implementing a more protective oil and gas leasing program which offered a smaller area of the Refuge available for lease, the Biden Administration held the second lease sale of the Refuge required by Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in early January2025. There were no bids received. 
• In 2022, Chevron and Hillcorp abandoned their interests in the Refuge paying the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to exit their legacy leases on a small tract of land owned by the Alaska Native Corporation. These leases were originally held by BP and Chevron since the 1980s when the oil companies drilled the only test well in the Refuge, the results of which were never released.
• Major banks in the U.S. and Canada are among more than two dozen banks around the world that announced they will not fund any new oil and gas development and more than 20 international insurers have said they would not insure any drilling in the Refuge. 
• Partners of the Porcupine Caribou Management Agreement, including the governments of Canada, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Vuntut Gwitchin, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the Inuvialuit Game Council, have stated that drilling in the Refuge presents a direct threat to the survival of the Porcupine caribou herd and remain committed to the goal of permanent protection for the sacred calving grounds for Porcupine caribou in this region of Alaska. 
• Following their first bilateral meeting in 2021, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau released the “Roadmap for a Renewed U.S. – Canada Partnership” where they jointly recognized the importance of the Refuge and “agreed to work together to help safeguard the Porcupine caribou herd calving grounds that are invaluable to the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit people’s culture and subsistence.”
• Last summer, delegates of the Gwich’in Nation from Alaska and Canada met in Danzhit Hanlaii (Circle) Alaska for the Biennial Gwich’in Gathering to unanimously reaffirm a resolution calling for protections for Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit (The Sacred Place Where Life Begins), the birthplace and nursery grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd. The resolution calls for the United States Congress to recognize the human rights of the Gwich’in by permanently protecting the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• On his first day of his new term, President Trump issued “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resources Potential”. This Executive Order directs the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to: i) rescind the Biden Administration’s cancellation of oil and gas leases acquired by the AIDEA in the first lease sale targeting lands in the Refuge carried out during Trump’s first presidency; and, ii) rescind the oil and gas leasing program for the Refuge adopted under the Biden Administration and to reinstate the one adopted by the first Trump Administration.