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The sale of oil and gas drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was supposed to bring in upwards of $1 billion, but in the end, the first of the auctions mandated by Congress at the urging of President Trump brought in only $14M.
Why This Matters: Banks won’t underwrite Arctic drilling, so it is unclear those ANWR leases will be drilled ever.
Continue Reading 507 wordsThis week, just in time for Thanksgiving, we talk with Adam Kolton, the Executive Director of the Alaska Wilderness League about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Arctic Indigenous Communities, and conserving Alaskan wilderness. Watch the entire interview. Here are a few highlights: On the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: “This is the area where hundreds of […]
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This week, the President’s Interior Department moved forward with a plan to allow oil and gas drilling in one of the most pristine areas remaining on the planet — the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge is home to numerous iconic wildlife species such as caribou, polar bears, waterbirds, arctic foxes, black and brown bears, […]
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The Secretary of Energy stunningly accused the major financial institutions that refuse to now invest in Arctic oil and gas exploration of discrimination against the oil and gas industry and likened the decision to the banks’ refusal in the past to make loans to minorities.
Why This Matters: Arctic drilling has been fought due to its environmental toll since the 1960s, In 1980, Congress decreed that no exploratory drilling or production could occur without further congressional action — and it stayed that way until President Trump demanded authority to lease the land for drilling, despite the ample domestic supply of oil and gas.
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This week there was a momentous piece of good news for conservation — one of the largest and most powerful and influential U.S. banks, Goldman Sachs, said it will not fund projects that drill for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This is huge — between 2016 and 2018, Goldman Sachs invested […]
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In a move that drew praise from leading environmental organizations, the investment bank Goldman Sachs announced a sweeping new “environmental policy framework” on Sunday, with major commitments to fund climate change resilience and adaptation projects, clean energy development, and to more thoroughly analyze fracking projects before funding them (though it does not rule them out entirely).
Why This Matters: This puts Goldman Sachs well in the lead among U.S. banks for making a commitment to both climate change and environmental protection generally.
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