Conservationists and climate campaigners on Thursday welcomed the news that another fossil fuel company has canceled a controversial Trump-era lease to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while calling on policymakers to permanently protect the pristine wilderness from future threats.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of Australia-based 88 Energy, joined Hilcorp and Chevron — which earlier this week terminated pre-existing leases inside the ANWR — in canceling its lease. Major banks and insurers have also stopped financing and covering Arctic fossil fuel projects.
“These exits clearly demonstrate that international companies recognize what we have known all along,” said the Gwich’in Steering Committee, a group of Arctic defenders from the country’s northernmost Indigenous people.
Codify Arctic Refuge Protections, Say Campaigners Amid Big Oil Exodus
According to the Anchorage Daily News, Regenerate Alaska, a subsidiary of Australia-based 88 Energy, joined Hilcorp and Chevron — which earlier this week terminated pre-existing leases inside the ANWR — in canceling its lease. Major banks and insurers have also stopped financing and covering Arctic fossil fuel projects.
“These exits clearly demonstrate that international companies recognize what we have known all along,” said the Gwich’in Steering Committee, a group of Arctic defenders from the country’s northernmost Indigenous people.
Codify Arctic Refuge Protections, Say Campaigners Amid Big Oil Exodus