WASHINGTON – The Senate tonight approved a Fiscal Year 2018 budget resolution that would undermine protections for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, other public lands and offshore areas from oil and gas drilling. It also could lay the groundwork for harmful tax cuts later this year.

The following is a statement from Franz Matzner, deputy director federal campaigns in the Center for Policy Advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council:

“Senate Republicans are following the irresponsible lead of their House Republican colleagues promoting dirty energy we don’t need. They’re acting against the public interest—using a backdoor gimmick to open the pristine Arctic Refuge and our other public lands and offshore areas to indiscriminate oil and gas exploitation—all to pad the profits of big polluters. This is not sound fiscal management of taxpayer money. And it must be stopped.”

A recent blog by Matzner on alternative ways to find revenue besides the refuge and offshore drilling is here:https://www.nrdc.org/experts/franz-matzner/3-easy-ways-raise-billion-dollars

A blog by Neil Lawrence, Alaska Director and senior attorney in NRDC’s Land & Wildlife program, on what’s at stake in the Arctic Refuge is here: Refuge: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/niel-lawrence/gloves-are

A recent blog by Marc Boom, associate director of government affairs at NRDC on the budget, is here:https://www.nrdc.org/experts/marc-boom/trump-tax-plan-big-polluters-win-rest-us-lose

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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.