A sequel to SF's event which is happening earlier in the day, for anyone who can't make that one.
Zoom Link Password: ANWR
This is a letter-writing party to get together on Zoom and write letters together for this campaign organized by XR DC.
Info about the campaign:
The Trump administration is working to open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil mining before leaving office in January. This is something that climate deniers and extinction profiteers have been trying to accomplish for decades, but was too extreme for even the George W. Bush administration. Now, after the election, and with no hope of holding onto power, they’re trying to rush it through on their way out.
From November 17 through December 17 the Bureau of Land Management is taking nominations for land tracts to be auctioned and leased to oil companies. They’ve divided the coastal plain of ANWR up into potential tracts and are seeking suggestions on which tracts would be best for oil extraction and/or input on how their existing delineation of the tracts should be changed. After the nomination period they will publish a lease notice, announcing which tracts they intend to make available at an auction. Once they publish the lease notice they are required to wait 30 days before auctioning off the mining rights. With the Presidential inauguration taking place on January 20, 2021, they have a very narrow window of time to review all tract nominations and publish their lease notice. Any delay in this process, even a matter of hours, could result in the lease not being finalized until after President Biden is sworn in, effectively killing the deal.
GOALS
Slow down the nomination process and push back publication of the lease notice
Encourage Alaska BLM employees to delay, procrastinate, and impede the process
Bring media attention to the popular opposition to oil exploration in ANWR
ACTION
Submit as many letters as possible to the Alaska Bureau of Land Management. These should be notes or letters, not actual (or fake) lease tract nominations.
Some potential submission strategies:
Write a love letter to the future, to your grandchildren, to the planet.
Write personal letters to the BLM Alaska employees, letting them know the consequences of their actions and what they could do to help. Encourage them to delay the nomination review by dragging their feet. Remind them that they might need a bathroom break, or a cup of coffee. Get creative.
NOTE: Interfering with a federal submission process could potentially be a crime. Posing as an oil exploration company and submitting legitimate seeming nominations could potentially add to the seriousness of this and increase the likelihood of an investigation. We do not recommend you include any identifying information, including your name, contact info, address, etc.
MAILING ADDRESS
State Director
Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office
222 West 7th Avenue, Mailstop 13
Anchorage, AK 99513-7504
Please mail your letters as you have them ready. Rather than delivering a giant pile of these all at once, we want a constant barrage that they can’t keep up with.To reach Anchorage by the deadline (December 17) all letters must be mailed no later than December 9 with normal postage.Also consider sending them from different zip codes so that they will not all have identical postmarks.