Tippets: Climate Change Call to Action, Mining Advances in Boundary Waters, Oil & Gas Leases in ANWR

January 2, 2019 By: Erin Block

  • Kian Tanner is a 13-year-old angler living in Montana, and writes an urgent plea to the adults in the room. “Shouldn’t my generation be able to experience the same things as my parents’ generation? The outdoors is something that should be protected. If you let climate change destroy it, then you are letting your children down.” Read Tanner’s essay in full via Hatch Magazine.
  • The U.S. Department of the Interior has moved ahead with renewal of controversial mining leases upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. “Mining in the Boundary Waters at the scale proposed not only would hurt wildlife such as northern pike, walleye and whitetails; it also would weaken a $1.6 billion outdoor recreation economy,” says Land Tawney, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers president and CEO. “We urge the administration to reverse course and conserve, not develop, this storied hunting and fishing destination.”
  • A recently released draft environmental impact statement from the Trump administration lays out plans to open up 1.6 million acres of The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. “According to the Center for American Progress, the statement fails to adequately address the environmental impact of oil spills and destruction of wildlife habitat.” Via Gizmodo.