Boston (September 29, 2017) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and Chair of the Senate Climate Task Force, released the following statement today after the Senate Republicans FY2018 budget resolution included instructions that would open the door for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In April, Senators Markey and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) reintroduced legislation with 40 total senators to designate the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness and protect the land from future development.
 
“By releasing a budget today that sets the stage for attaching drilling in the Arctic Refuge to the Republican attempts to fast track a tax package, they have shown that they have learned none of the lessons of the Trumpcare failures. There is bipartisan opposition to drilling in our nation's most pristine wildlife refuge and any effort to include it in the tax package would only further imperil the legislation as a whole. I will fight vigorously on the Senate floor to remove this eaxtranoeus giveaway to Big Oil from the budget and protect this special place."
 

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