55 Democratic lawmakers ask Biden administration to expand Arctic protections

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) led a letter from more than 50 congressional Democrats calling on the Interior Department to expand federal protections in the Arctic.

The Interior Department in July solicited comments on whether further protections should be imposed within a 23-million acre swath of the western Arctic. The Interior Department first began designating so-called Special Areas within the region in the 1970s, most recently in April, when the Biden administration expanded protections for 13 million acres across five such areas.

In addition to Markey and Huffman, the letter was signed by Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and 45 other House Democrats.

“This opportunity to take a renewed look at needed protections is especially timely, as the effects of climate change in the Arctic — from declining sea ice, permafrost thaw, and record temperatures — are felt more acutely than ever before and new extractive development encroaches more and more into important habitat and subsistence areas,” they wrote.

...

For Complete article, please click here

By:  Zack Budryk
Source: The Hill

• Print
• Email
• Tweet