Opinion: Why Alaskan oil exploration matters to South Carolina

The U.S. Department of Interior recently approved the long-awaited first oil production facility in federal waters offshore near Alaska, less than 30 miles from the coast of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The announcement marks the latest in a series of aggressive moves by the administration to open up the world’s most pristine waters to oil and gas exploration and production.

South Carolina might seem a world away from the Arctic — the “top of the world” and a wilderness that grizzly bears, caribou and millions of migratory birds call home. Although we live in a different climate, a different time zone and experience different cultures than our fellow citizens most intimately impacted by the decision to open ANWR to petroleum exploration, the distance and differences between us must not keep us silent here.

Established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903, Alaska’s ANWR is our nation’s largest and wildest refuge. The government’s changes in policy foretell destruction of this precious land and one of our nation’s last great places, the far-reaching consequences of which will affect us here in South Carolina, and others around the world.

The negative implications are arresting. New oil exploration and drilling stand as a direct threat to the Gwich’in people, an indigenous community whose way of life — much of it dependent on the area’s abundant natural resources — would be forever changed.

The more than 200 bird species and other iconic animals that find safe refuge in the immense expanse of ANWR would be negatively impacted as well, including polar and grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines and North America’s largest caribou herd.

The new activities proposed will likely set off a cascade of changes that will forever spoil what a longstanding conservation ethic and love for wild land has established.

We know and value our great places here — from Cape Romain to Jocassee Gorges and so much in between.

And although the ACE Basin and Arctic are thousands of miles apart, we do share feathered ambassadors that tie us together. In the Arctic, summer, birds migrate from across not only our state and country, but also six continents to feed and reproduce in this pristine landscape. An assault on ANWR would initiate changes in global biodiversity and environmental well-being; and a multitude of waterfowl, songbirds and shorebirds will be among the first indicators of how reckless exploitation could have global repercussions.

If you care about the critical connections that bind humans, wildlife and ecosystems together in tightly linked interdependence; if the birds in your back yard or the ones flying wild in our woodlands and wetlands inspire you; if you care about rising sea levels and how they already affect South Carolina’s communities and infrastructure; if you care about our legacy of conserving wildness for future generations and the dangerous precedent this decision could set, then please speak up. Be heard.

We here in the Palmetto State can be a part of an important solution to keep America’s wilderness wild.

J. Drew Lanham, Ph.D., CWB

Dr. Lanham is an Alumni Distinguished Professor at Clemson University, a Certified Wildlife Biologist and chair of the Audubon SC advisory board.