Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation Denounces Step Towards Oil and Gas Lease Sale of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Calls for Allies to Take Action

Press Release

The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation strongly denounces the U.S. Administration’s latest step toward opening the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

The Coastal Plain is the irreplaceable birthing and nursery grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd.  Returning each spring to the Coastal Plain, the place we call Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit (The Sacred Place Where Life Begins), the Porcupine caribou herd completes one of the greatest land migrations on earth and renews itself with the birth of thousands of Vadzaih (caribou). Drilling in the Coastal Plain will threaten this cycle of new birth that has lasted for a millennia, and with it the very survival of the Porcupine caribou herd as a whole.

Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued the Call for Nominations for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The process is used to help identify areas to be offered in a forthcoming lease sale and is typically used for industry to comment on what areas are of most interest for them.

Proceeding with another lease sale disregards the voices of our Nation, which have clearly explained for decades what would be lost if drilling were to proceed. The health of these lands is inseparable from the food security and cultural survival of our people, as well as that of all First Nation and Inuvialuit communities who have relied on the Porcupine caribou since time immemorial.

Opening the Coastal Plain to drilling also disregards clear signals that the oil and gas industry lacks interest in drilling in the region, as demonstrated by two previous failed lease sales and the abandonment of legacy leases by oil and gas companies.

Following the Call for Nominations, we expect the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to release a Notice of Lease Sale and a Detailed Statement of Sale at least 30 days prior to holding any lease sale.

We call upon our partners, allies, and friends to stand with us and with the Porcupine caribou herd by using the Call for Nominations as another opportunity to tell the BLM, and any company considering pursuing leases, why drilling in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge must not proceed and what is at stake.

Help us protect these sacred lands for future generations.

Submissions will be accepted by the BLM until March 5, 2026.

You can submit comments to the BLM by:

Email: BLM_AKSO_AK932_AKLeasesales@blm.gov with Subject: Coastal Plan Lease Sale

Mail: State Director, BLM Alaska State Office, 222, West 7^th Ave., #13, Anchorage, AK, 99513

‍Quotes

“President Trump is once again putting this irreplaceable land at risk, threatening destruction that no amount of money can ever justify. Time and again, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been driven by politics, not science; by ego, not by respect for Traditional Knowledge or Western research; and without any regard for our sacred responsibility to future generations. We call on everyone to stand with us, speak out, and take action to protect the Coastal Plain and the Porcupine caribou herd before it is too late.”

— Chief Pauline Frost, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation

“The Coastal Plain is the most critical habitat for the caribou at the most critical time in their lives. It is where the mothers give birth and find the nourishment and safety that their calves need to survive. This place is where the herd renews itself, and where the future of the caribou is decided each year. If this land is disturbed, fewer calves will survive, the herd will weaken, and our people will directly feel that loss. You cannot harm the place where life begins and expect life to continue as it has for generations.”

— Stanley Njootli Sr., Elder, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation

“Our ancestors have taken care of Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit (The Sacred Place Where Life Begins) since time immemorial for Vadzaih (caribou) and the Gwich’in Nation. Oil and gas development in the Sacred Lands will destroy the Caribou and our traditional and cultural ways of being. The health and well-being of the lands, the Caribou is the medicine that will keep the future our people strong. It is our responsibility to follow the direction of our past Elders and current Knowledge Keepers to protect the Sacred Lands for all time.”

— Lorraine Netro, Elder, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation

“Proceeding with another lease sale ignores both the science and the lived reality of our people. The Coastal Plain is essential to the survival of the Porcupine caribou, and the health of the herd is directly tied to our food security, culture, and way of life. When decisions put the calving grounds at risk, they put our future at risk. This Call for Nominations is another opportunity for governments and the public to speak up and say what is truly at stake and why drilling in this sacred place must not move forward.”

— Councillor Harold Frost, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation

‍For all media inquiries, please contact:

Ken Kyikavichik, Executive Director
ken.kyikavichik@vgfn.ca
(825) 965-8586

‍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 (Arctic Refuge) for oil and gas development by ‘not later than 10 years after the date of enactment’.
• Following this mandate, the Trump Administration rushed the leasing process, completing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and initiating the multi-step lease sale process. The first lease sale was held on January 6, 2021, during the final days of the first Trump Administration. Nine leases covering over 400,000 acres of the Coastal Plain were issued to 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 made in 2017 by proponents of drilling, which were used to justify inclusion of the program in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
• On January 20 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order which placed a temporary moratorium on all oil and natural gas leasing activities in the Arctic Refuge. In June 2021, the Department of Interior suspended leases in the Arctic Refuge pending a comprehensive analysis of environmental impacts.
• Following this suspension, Knik Arm Services LLC and Regenerate Alaska Inc. cancelled their leases, and the Department of Interior cancelled the remaining leases held by AIDEA, acknowledging that 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 Arctic Refuge available for lease, the Biden Administration held the second lease sale of the Arctic Refuge required by Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in early January 2025. No bids were received.
• In 2022, Chevron and Hillcorp abandoned their interests in the Arctic 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 financial institutions, including banks in the U.S. and Canada are among more than two dozen banks around the world that announced they will not fund any oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge. Additionally, more than 20 international insurers have said they would not insure any drilling in the Arctic 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 Arctic 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.
• On the first day of his new term, President Trump issued “Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential,” outlining his Administration’s pathway to reopen the Arctic Refuge for oil and gas drilling, including the rollback of environmental protections and the reinstatement of previously suspended leases.
• In July 2025, The Trump Administration passed the Big Beautiful Bill, mandating four additional oil and gas lease sales of the Coastal Plain.
• In Fall 2025, the Trump Administration repealed the Biden-era leasing program, reinstating a leasing program that opens the entire Coastal Plain with fewer environmental and cultural protections and reinstated all oil and gas leases held by AIDEA, covering more than 350,000 acres within the Coastal Plain.
• In response, the Gwich’in Steering Committee and 12 allied organizations filed an amended lawsuit against the Trump Administration. The lawsuit alleges that multiple U.S. federal departments have violated federal laws, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Wilderness Act, and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

ILR4