The Arctic is made up of 222 million acres of federal land, home to endangered wildlife by corporations looking to drill for oil, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Lehigh students are taking action against oil drilling in the Arctic through a new movement that has been brought to Bethlehem.
On Aug. 28, a chapter of the Arctic Defense Campaign — a coalition sponsored by the Alaska Wilderness League, was established in Bethlehem by Matt Docalovich — an environmental organizer for the League. The Alaska Wilderness League is a nonprofit that supports federal policies that protect Alaska’s wildland and waters, according to the organization’s website.
The Arctic Defense Campaign started in 2023. The Alaska Wilderness League is the main sponsor of more than 40 campaigns that have been fighting oil drilling in the arctic, according to their website.
To explore where to drill for oil, companies use a tactic called seismic testing, where large vehicles repeatedly drive across the tundra, striking the ground with metal plates to determine the location of oil via sound waves. This irreversibly scars the landscape and is destructive to the tundra, according to the Alaska Wilderness League’s website.
Since a bill passed by the U.S. Senate in July redirected the sale of land leases to oil and gas companies in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Docalovich said awareness of oil drilling has greatly decreased since the 1990s when there were more environmental movements bringing attention to it.
“Now, the danger has flared back up,” he said.
Docalovich said the campaign’s goal is to delay the sale of these leases to oil and gas companies throughout the fall, because seismic testing occurs in the winter. If they prevent the sales, he said the campaign will buy a full year’s worth of time to implement more permanent protection for Alaska.
He also said he recruited interns by sending out an initial interest form for students who were passionate about the cause and willing to devote ten hours a week to the campaign. On Sept. 3, eight Lehigh students joined the chapter as interns to grow the movement against oil drilling in Alaska, both on campus and throughout Bethlehem.
Despite never having worked for environmental protection before, Olivia Lewis, ‘28, was interested in joining the campaign.
“Through seeing posts online about climate change, I’ve always wanted to find some way to get involved, but never had the opportunity,” Lewis said. “This is my opportunity.”
The campaign has been conducting grassroots work by organizing call-in times dedicated to dialing local legislators, distributing petitions around Lehigh’s campus and recruiting volunteers. Currently, there are 70 members signed up in the organization’s GroupMe.
Lewis said she’s working on getting her friends and Lehigh clubs involved.
The chapter has received over 700 signatures on their petition supporting protection of the Arctic against oil and gas development. The goal is to receive 1,000 signatures.
On Sept. 17, Docalovich hosted a kickoff meeting for the campaign.
He gave an overview about the dangers of seismic testing and how the group will be working to prevent it.
Docalovich said the campaign will target three congressional seats in Pennsylvania — Sen. John Fetterman, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie and Rep. Rob Bresnahan Jr. — to contact and urge to halt the leasing.
He also said the group intends to raise awareness of the situation in Alaska through coalition organizing and media visibility.
At the meeting, attendees discussed ideas for petitioning in different areas of the Bethlehem community. This included approaching and partnering with businesses in the local area to hang up posters and hosting various social events such as a field day.
Lily Paschke, ‘27, one of the volunteers who attended the meeting, said public lands are very important to her.
”I like how the campaign is super grassroots as well, because I feel national politics tends to fail us,” Paschke said.
Interns and the other group members plan to spend the rest of the fall organizing events, brainstorming and devoting time appealing to local legislators in order to protect the arctic.
Docalovich said if the campaign prolongs the selling of leases to oil companies, the group can start to pursue long-term goals.
“The longer term strategy is a huge public education and engagement campaign, because people are very supportive of keeping this area untouched,” he said.
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