Arctic
The Sheenjek River, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Credit:
Alexis Bonogofsky for USFWS
NRDC joins forces with Indigenous peoples, scientists, and environmental groups to protect the extraordinary landscapes, majestic seas, and iconic wildlife of Alaska and the Arctic.
See Our Work in Other Regions
Special places, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, are under constant threat from dirty extractive industries. With our partners, we’re fighting to permanently protect federal lands and waters from oil and gas development and other atrocious exploitation.
NRDC elevates the voices of Indigenous people whose way of life depends on the natural world, supporting them in advocacy and communications. Following the lead of Arctic residents who are already experiencing the harms of climate change and industrialization, we also support a just transition for the region toward clean energy and away from dependence on fossil fuels.
- NRDC provided the visionary leadership to secure permanent protections for 98 percent of the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean from offshore leasing for oil and gas. When President Trump unlawfully attacked that ban, NRDC and Earthjustice took the administration to court and won.
- Coordinating with scientists, partner groups, and congressional allies, NRDC has successfully worked to stave off potentially disastrous seismic surveys of the biological heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, America’s largest pristine wildland. Not only have we set the stage for successful litigation over any fossil fuel exploration or leasing in that sensitive area, but we have also helped shape legislation in Congress to bar all oil- and gas-related activity there.
- We are aggressively pursuing strategies to stop fossil fuel development in America’s largest public reserve in the western Arctic and litigating against lease sales and dirty energy exploration authorized by the Trump administration.
- Alaska’s pristine Bristol Bay watershed provides half the world’s wild sockeye salmon, supports 14,000 jobs, and generates $1.5 billion in economic activity every year. The proposed open-pit gold and copper Pebble Mine project threatens to poison the bay’s headwaters with up to 10 billion tons of mining waste. NRDC is teaming up with businesses, fishing communities, and Indigenous groups to urge investors and the Trump administration to stop this risky project.
Latest News & Commentary
Skip carousel items
Pebble Mine: SCOTUS Denies Original Review of EPA Veto
Expert BlogAlaska, United StatesJoel Reynolds
In the latest defeat for the embattled Bristol Bay mining scheme, the Supreme Court unanimously rejects the Dunleavy Administration’s motion for review.
Pebble Mine 2023: Tribes Win Veto, State Hail Marys SCOTUS
Expert BlogUnited States, AlaskaJoel Reynolds
Pebble Mine: Year in Review. After EPA issues rare veto of massive Bristol Bay mine, Dunleavy Administration throws lifeline to Canadian owner, lodging dubious claims in U.S. Supreme Court.
Why the Willow Project Is a Bad Idea
Latest NewsAlaskaJeff Turrentine
The oil drilling proposal would be disastrous for Alaska and the planet (not to mention President Biden’s climate legacy).
Taxpayers Still on Hook for Oil and Gas Clean-up, Despite New Rule
Expert BlogTexas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, AlaskaRebecca Ramirez
BOEM's proposed rule falls short in requiring oil and gas companies to demonstrate they are financially able to fully remove and clean up platforms & pipelines.
DOE Shrugs as U.S. Natural Gas Exports Surge
Expert BlogLouisiana, Texas, Florida, Alaska, New Jersey, PennsylvaniaGillian Giannetti, Morgan Johnson
A decade-long expansion of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals has transformed American energy policy, altered the domestic and international gas market, and raised serious questions for climate health and communities. Yet when the U.S. government weighs these critical…
Did Pebble Mine Shareholders “Blink” in Securities Fraud Suit?
Expert BlogAlaska, United StatesJoel Reynolds
Pebble Mine owner agrees to settle shareholder claims that company failed to disclose secret plan for exponential expansion of widely opposed Bristol Bay mine.
President Biden Celebrates Pebble Veto: “The Mine Will Not Be Built.”
Expert BlogAlaskaJoel Reynolds
In the Rose Garden celebration of conservation achievements, President Joe Biden elevated the Pebble Mine veto—calling the Bristol Bay fishery “a marvel,” citing scientific consensus of unacceptable risk from large-scale mining, and thanking Alaska Natives and the broad-based coalition for…
Goodbye Verner, Fearless Fighter Against the Pebble Mine
Expert BlogUnited States, AlaskaJoel Reynolds
Bristol Bay tribal and environmental leader Verner Wilson III personified the next generation of committed opposition in decades-long battle against destructive Bristol Bay mining scheme.
On International Day of Forests, the Global North Must Show Leadership
Expert BlogInternational, Canada, United States, AlaskaElly Pepper, Carolyn Ramírez
On International Day of Forests, the Global North must show leadership on forest protection and acknowledge its own role in forest loss.
Alaska’s Tongass National Forest Gets the Protections It Deserves
NRDC in ActionAlaskaCourtney Lindwall
After a decades-long fight, the newly reinstated Roadless Rule will safeguard these wildlands from road construction and logging.
Latest Policy Resources
Skip carousel items
Offshore Drilling 101
GuideAlaska, West, Louisiana, Georgia, North CarolinaShelia Hu
A look into how drilling for oil and gas in the oceans works—and why it’s time to make it history.
Permafrost: Everything You Need to Know
GuideArcticMelissa Denchak
The “permanently” frozen earth at our planet’s poles and in other cold climes is thawing, with big consequences to our climate, ecosystems, and health.
Keep America’s Atlantic and Arctic Oceans Oil-Free
Issue BriefUnited States, East, ArcticAlexandra Adams, Franz Matzner
The Fate of the Arctic in Offshore Oil Blowouts
ReportArcticFranz Matzner, Niel Lawrence
Stop the Drilling Before It Starts
Fact SheetUnited States, Arctic, East
5 Reasons to Withdraw the U.S. Arctic and Atlantic Oceans from All Future Leasing
Protect the Arctic Refuge from Oil Exploration
OverviewArctic, Alaska
NRDC is fighting to save the refuge for future generations in court, Congress, and the White House.
The EPA Should Stop the Pebble Mine By Prohibiting or Restricting Discharges Associated with Large-Scale Mining in the Bristol Bay Watershed
Fact SheetUnited States, AlaskaTaryn Kiekow Heimer, Joel Reynolds
Arctic Wildlife Refuge: Why Trash an American Treasure for a Tiny Percentage of Our Oil Needs?
OverviewArctic, Alaska
The Refuge is the greatest living reminder that conserving nature is a core American value.
Thirsty for Answers: Preparing for the Water-related Impacts of Climate Change in American Cities
ReportAlaska, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Norfolk, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis
The Willow Project would generate 277 million metric tons of climate-busting carbon pollution.
Tell the Biden administration this disastrous oil drilling project has no place in our clean energy future.
Help stop the destructive new Willow oil drilling project in Alaska!
The Biden administration officially approved the disastrous Willow oil drilling Project—and NRDC and partners are suing to hold it accountable. Tell the administration that we will not sit back and watch while ConocoPhillips generates 277 million metric tons of climate-busting carbon pollution.