PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 17, 2022
I recently met with 12 Gwich’in people. They were telling me about their love for their pristine homeland in the Canadian National Parks of Ivvavik and Vuntut, in Canada, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. In 2017, President Trump’s tax bill, supported by Congress, required there be a sale of leases for drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic Refuge. A National Academy of Sciences study concluded that oil development would harm wildlife and their habitats. President Biden cannot repeal the tax bill by himself. Members of Congress need to ensure the cessation of lease sales. Sen. Susan Collins has said, “I have opposed efforts to open areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.” Our nation needs other senators and representatives to join Sen. Collins to ensure that Congress repeals the legal requirement that a lease sale for oil and gas be held in 2024. ~ The Rev. Richard Killmer, retired Presbyterian minister, Yarmouth