STATEMENT: Votes Scheduled In House On Anti-Nature Legislation

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on several anti-environmental bills as early as Tuesday, April 30. The measures would unravel or block actions from the Biden administration and federal courts that have protected gray wolves, canceled leases for drilling in the pristine Arctic Refuge, preserved 13 millions acres of the Western Arctic, and safeguarded the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from toxic mining on its doorstep for 20 years.

HR 764, introduced by Rep. Lauren Boebert (CO), would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reissue a Trump era rule that removed Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves. A federal court found in 2022 that “delisting” the wolves was unlawful.

HR 6285, introduced by Rep. Pete Stauber (MN), would reinstate canceled leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that would have been developed for oil and reverse a recent Biden administration rule to protect 13 million acres in the Western Arctic Reserve from oil drilling.

HR 3195, also introduced by Rep. Stauber (MN), would reverse a decision to protect more than 225,000 acres near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota from toxic mining waste and would automatically reinstate canceled mining leases.

In response, Environment America experts released the following statements:

“There are places that are too precious and too important to destroy by mining or drilling. The Boundary Waters and the north slope of Alaska are two of these,” said Ellen Montgomery, public lands campaign director. “From the most frequented wilderness area in the country, beloved by visitors who canoe, camp and experience nature, to the rugged Arctic tundra where few Americans will ever visit, these are some of the wonders of nature that make our country great. The Biden administration made the right call last year when it protected the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and again, earlier this month, in protecting the Western Arctic from pollution. Rep. Stauber’s bills would endanger these special places and allow mining and drilling companies to do irreparable harm to our environment and the wildlife that call these spaces home.”

“Rep. Boebert’s bill tells the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to strip protections for wolves, irrespective of the science and data. That’s a horrible process and would prove disastrous for the wolves,” said Steve Blackledge, senior director of conservation campaigns. “Wolves are an essential part of a broad array of ecosystems, and it is imperative that we protect them, both for their sake and the sake of our country’s ecology.”