Stop the Drilling Before It Starts

The Arctic Ocean is home to a vast array of wildlife yet already facing severe threats from climate change. The Atlantic Ocean supports a rich web of life and thriving coastal economies. Oil production in these oceans—if feasible at all—would take decades to come online, arriving after the transition to cleaner fuels must already have taken place if we are going to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. We must ensure that the U.S. helps to ramp down extraction of fossil fuels—fuels we don’t need and can’t afford to burn—by no longer dedicating our publicly-owned lands and waters to new development. Withdrawing the Arctic and Atlantic from all future oil and gas leasing will grant these waters the permanent protection they so richly deserve and send a powerful global signal that the U.S. is taking steps to get out of the dirty energy business.