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The Bureau of Land (Mis)Management is accepting <b>only postal mail comments</b> on the administration's plan to lease ANWR for drilling. The deadline is December 17.</div>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b> Episcopal Public Policy Network <eppn@episcopalchurch.org><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, November 24, 2020 12:21 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Rebecca Phillips <bennphil@hotmail.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Halt the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Lease Sale</font>
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Write to Congress today!Dear Rebecca,As we have called upon you to do for decades, we need you to act once again to help stop the progression of oil and gas exploration in the cri</div>
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<div style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:20px"><a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/Lt8fWla0s9EhAJGyVd371A">Write to Congress today!</a></span></div>
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Dear Rebecca,<br>
<br>
As we have called upon you to do for decades, we need you to act once again to help stop the progression of oil and gas exploration in the critical ecosystem of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.<br>
<br>
The Trump administration just <a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/7Q1SJ56tzl4h_lHHelzoaQ">
announced</a> that it will initiate the process of selling leases to oil and gas companies for drilling in the Refuge. The federal Bureau of Land Management, which administers the Refuge,
<a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/7pWzmzCCOR3_L5hh55Zi9w">issued</a> a “call of nominations” on Tuesday to oil and gas companies to identify tracts of land they would like to explore and potentially drill on within the refuge.<br>
<br>
Drilling in the Arctic Refuge would devastate one of the most diverse Arctic ecosystems. Noise pollution and oil spills resulting from exploration and drilling could
<a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/QgwN3imLENzWr8abgoTLsQ">imperil wildlife</a> like the Porcupine caribou and prove fatal for already endangered species.<br>
<br>
For decades, The Episcopal Church <a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/CbMQNzJphmdzwVnyFv_Qbw">
has supported</a> our members from the Gwich’in tribe who have called the lands within the Refuge home for 20,000 years. The Gwich’in have ancestral, cultural, and spiritual ties with Porcupine caribou herd and have long relied on them for sustenance. Fossil
fuel extraction would disturb the caribou calving grounds and severely disrupt the livelihoods of the Gwich’in.<br>
<br>
Upon its announcement of the planned lease sale, the Bureau of Land Management said it will
<strong><a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/V1wcO-uIXX_acuyONEfMkA">only accept comments</a></strong><strong> from the public</strong>
<strong>via postal mail</strong> that must be received by December 17, instead of accepting online comments. This highly unusual move unfairly disenfranchises rural Alaska Natives who lack reliable access to the Postal Service. After the closure of the comment
period, a lease sale could be held mere days before Inauguration Day on January 20, making it difficult for the new administration to revoke leases.<br>
<br>
Early last year, OGR called on Episcopalians to urge the passage of the bipartisan
<a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/g-IvfB_Z9cbn8_tlicr7cw">Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act</a>, a bill that would restore environmental protections for the Arctic Refuge and revoke the provision in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act that opened the refuge to drilling. The bill passed the House, but the Senate has refused to consider it. Please contact your Senators and urge them to take up S. 2461 – the Arctic Refuge Protection Act.<br>
<div style="text-align:center"><a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/Lt8fWla0s9EhAJGyVd371A"><img alt="" height="53" width="208" style="max-width: 600px !important;width:208px; height:53px" src="https://d3dkdvqff0zqx.cloudfront.net/groups/episcopal/images/take_action_button.png"></a><br>
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<strong>Please also consider sending a comment to the Bureau of Land Management. You can find more information about submitting a comment here:
<a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/VIiMt5l8SOZoXBRTctF_vA">Writing an Effective Public Comment for the Arctic Refuge Lease Sale</a></strong><br>
<br>
<br>
<strong>More Information</strong>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/H4dImGpviryvuf8SchcPxQ">The Episcopal Church Opposes Lease Sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge</a> (Statement)</li><li><a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/XDtoimvFAT4eo6LtpCauuA">The Episcopal Church and Drilling in the Arctic Refuge</a> (Informational one-pager)</li><li><a href="https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/Ku1SPn2iwpf91zJ_T3lQ0Q">1991-D125: Oppose Oil Development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
</a></li></ul>
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