Washington, DC — This week, Donald Trump announced his intent to move forward with controversial plans to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.
In response, Greenpeace USA Climate Campaign Director Janet Redman said:
“Trump’s days in the White House are numbered, but that’s not stopping him from trying to sneak in a few final favors to fossil fuel billionaires. As demand for oil plummets and climate impacts wreak havoc across the world, opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas corporations makes zero sense. If Trump truly cared about creating jobs, he would have invested in the growing renewable energy economy and started a just transition away from oil and gas. It will be up to the next administration to not only undo the damage of the Trump era, but embrace the vision of a more inclusive, just, and sustainable economy.
“Oil CEOs know that if they can open up the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling — which has supported Alaska Native communities for millennia and is home to polar bears, caribou, and many other unique species — no place is off limits. So if we want any chance of limiting global warming to the 1.5 degrees Celsius outlined in the Paris agreement, scientists are clear that 100 percent of Arctic oil and gas must stay in the ground. Trump’s latest move is yet another marker of his catastrophic failure as a leader.”
ENDS
Contact: Ryan Schleeter, Senior Communications Specialist, Greenpeace USA: +1 (415) 342-2386, [email protected]
