Sierra Club statement on Trump’s Alaska giveaway to Big Oil CEOs

Executive order revokes protections for fragile Arctic lands and waters

January 20, 2025

WASHINGTON, D.C. -In a flurry of executive orders declaring a "national energy emergency" and aiming to "unleash American energy," Donald Trump acted to slash environmental protections in Alaska, including the Arctic Refuge and Western Arctic, to greatly expand oil and gas drilling by corporate polluters. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to "drill, baby, drill" on public lands, including fragile landscapes in Alaska. American oil production recently reached an all-time-high under the Biden Administration.

This is not the first time Trump has sought to open up protected landscapes for oil and gas drilling. The 2017 Tax Act, the top priority of the first Trump Administration, included provisions allowing drilling in the Arctic Refuge for the first time. Both lease sales for the Arctic Refuge, one held under Trump and one held during the Biden Administration failed. The Trump lease sale was subsequently found to be illegal.

In response, Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, released the following statement:

"The Alaskan Arctic is home to some of the wildest and largest areas of public lands in the country, and Donald Trump wants to turn it into the world's largest gas station. These lands are vital to wildlife and are sacred to Alaska Native communities - Trump wants to give them away to the Big Oil CEOs that bankrolled his presidential campaign. Make no mistake, Trump's rushed and sloppy actions today are an existential threat to these lands and waters, and the communities and wildlife that depend on them. Companies that bid on leases or seek to mine on sacred lands are stepping not only into legal uncertainty, but guaranteed backlash from the American people, who overwhelmingly oppose giving corporate polluters free rein in these fragile landscapes."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.