Jared Huffman: “It is important to remember that we are talking about a Federal wildlife refuge, America's Arctic refuge. Mr. Chair, you…”

“It is important to remember that we are talking about a Federal wildlife refuge, America's Arctic refuge. Mr. Chair, you would lose sight of that, perhaps, listening to the pretzel logic we just heard from my friend who at the end of the day cannot square the selective concern for local voices when it comes to drilling in a Federal refuge and yet the flouting of local voices when it comes to drilling, in the Federal interest, the Outer Continental Shelf on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. The disconnect is dizzying. Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette), who is one of the Members of Congress who has actually spent some time in the Arctic refuge. Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Chair, in 2017, with little debate, the Republican- led Chamber quietly approved a provision to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. ANWR is our Nation's largest wildlife refuge, and it is the ancestral home to the Gwich'in people and current home to more than 250 species of wildlife, including threatened species like polar bears that raise their cubs there. As the chairman said, I have traveled to this special place. I have met with the Gwich'in people. I saw the pristine beauty of the coastal plain, and I saw thousands of Porcupine caribou in their annual migration process. I know how important this refuge is to our entire ecosystem.…”