While school shootings, trade wars, possibility of nuclear war and sex scandals steal the headlines, the Trump administration; Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; are stealing our public land.

Sen. Gardner put Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling in budget and tax bills where it couldn’t be debated. Sen. Murkowski, Interior Department Secretary Zinke and President Donald Trump are illegally pushing oil lease sales in ANWR in 60 days.

Drilling on the Coastal Plain threatens the lives of the Gwich’in people who depend on the caribou that calve there, the greatest diversity of plant and animal life in the entire circumpolar north, bird migrations to 50 states and six continents, and one of America’s last wild places, and it would increase warming in the Arctic, already warming twice the rate of lower 48.

There wasn’t a public process to pass drilling in ANWR, and none can be expected regarding lease sales in 60 days. The public is being shut out, and federal laws are being broken so public lands can be destroyed for private, corporate profits. We can thank Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who sponsored the Coastal Plain Wilderness Bill, and hold Sen. Gardner accountable for protecting the oil and gas industry instead of people.

“Oil on Ice,” an hourlong documentary that examines the battle over oil development in ANWR, will be shown at 7 p.m. April 12 at the Sunflower Theatre. Come learn what we might lose.

Phyllis Mains

Cortez