Subject: FCAC Comment on Exploration in the Yukon Flats Solicitation Area
To: dog.bif@alaska.gov
As a coalition of Interior residents committed to climate action rooted in justice for our local communities, we as Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition urge you to deny the proposal for oil and gas exploration in the Yukon Flats area.
Our state constitution provides a right to the conservation of the state’s lands and waters, “for the maximum benefit of the people.” Continued fossil fuel development is not in the best interest of the people of Alaska. The Fifth National Climate Assessment includes a special chapter on climate impacts to Alaska, and outlines all the ways that Alaskan communities are already experiencing devastating effects of climate change. Scientific consensus is clear, and backed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2023 Sixth Assessment Report, and the commitments of all 195 nations signed on to the Paris agreement: we cannot keep expanding fossil fuel extraction. We have the opportunity instead to build out renewables now, which already provide a more affordable and cleaner power source that can fill current gaps and stabilize energy prices for decades into the future. Continued oil extraction is antithetical to meeting our carbon reduction goals and ensuring a healthy, livable climate for future generations.
Equally important as limiting carbon pollution is protecting intact ecosystems. Healthy, intact ecosystems are the best carbon sinks - we don’t need carbon credits to plant new tree farms, or untested carbon capture technology. We already have the technology to capture carbon - in the form of healthy, thriving ecosystems, which we already have and need to protect. This is the easiest and cheapest carbon sequestration technology available.
The track record of oil and gas development in Alaska is abysmal - spills, environmental harms, and safety and regulatory violations are common, and inevitable (see the attached links for more information on Hilcorp’s repeated environmental and safety violations). As Alaskans, we want what most Alaskans want - access to clean waters, healthy fish populations, and the land’s natural beauty. Oil and gas projects of all sorts are detrimental to healthy waters, fish, and ecosystems. The state has a duty to preserve our natural resources for the “maximum benefit of the people,” not to make money for oil and gas corporations.
Lastly, we uplift the importance of free, prior and informed consent by the Gwich’in and Koyukon people who have effectively stewarded this region for millennia. The Tanana Chiefs Conference and 42 Interior tribes have a standing resolution opposing oil and gas development in the Yukon Flats area, and multiple Indigenous leaders have made statements in opposition. Preserving the waterways in the Yukon River watershed is critical to protecting subsistence rights and important cultural foods and practices. The Yukon River King fishery remains closed, and putting additional environmental pressures on the watershed will only exacerbate the problem.
We know that we are all interconnected - the well-being of our land, waters, animals and fish is inextricably linked to the well being of our people. What harms the land, harms the people. The science is clear and a moral imperative compels us to speak up in protection of clean waters, healthy ecosystems, and a livable climate for our children and grandchildren. Oil and gas development in the Yukon Flats is at odds with the urgent need to stop developing fossil fuels and start investing in our future.
Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition