Government Relations and Policy

Oil and gas development in sensitive ecosystems can have a major impact on both marine and terrestrial habitats, putting many species at risk and jeopardizing the livelihoods of local people who depend on these habitats for food and income.

WWF's work with the U.S. government
Some of our efforts to protect sensitive ecosystems from oil and gas development include:

• Bristol Bay - WWF is currently working to pass the Bristol Bay Protection Act (HR 1957 / S 1311 )to protect this important habitat in the Bering Sea and Kamchatka region from offshore oil and gas leasing and development. Bristol Bay is one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the world. The bay is the site of the world's largest wild sockeye salmon runs, important nursery grounds for red king crab and Pacific halibut, staging areas and wintering grounds for tens of millions of seabirds, and a feeding ground and migration corridor for marine mammals, including five endangered species.
• Other Efforts - WWF is also working to pass:
  • The Outer Continental Shelf portion of Energy Bill (HR 6) which will protect ocean ecosystems from oil and gas development and foster clean and renewable energy sources;
  • Shipping safety reform to prevent cargo ships from accidentally overturning in extremely hazardous weather and sea conditions and spilling oil into some of the most productive marine habitats in the world;
  • Oil trust funds which will establish funds for quick and effective cleanup of oil spills thereby reducing destruction of local ecosystems.
• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - For years WWF has worked with our activists, NGOs and government allies in opposing any effort to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. The coastal plain of the Arctic refuge - often called "America's Serengeti" because of its abundant caribou, polar bear, grizzly bear, wolf and other wildlife populations - represents the last five percent of America's Arctic not already open to development. Oil companies have heavily lobbied to open the coastal plain, the biological heart of the wildlife refuge, to oil drilling but the government estimates only six months of economically recoverable oil exists under the coastal plain and it would not be available for 10 years.