The federal government, the Yukon and Northwest Territories governments, and several First Nations are pushing back on the Trump administration’s plans to open Porcupine caribou calving grounds to oil and gas drilling, in violation of international agreements set up to protect the territory.
“Canada is concerned about the potential transboundary impacts of oil and gas exploration and development planned for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain,” Environment and Climate Change Canada declared, in a letter to the Alaska office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. “Canada is particularly concerned that oil and gas exploration and development will negatively affect the long-term reproductive success of the Porcupine caribou herd.”