I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5911 
To amend Public Law 115–97 (commonly known as the Tax Cuts and 
Jobs Act) to repeal the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas 
program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 22, 2018 
Mr. HUFFMAN (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. LOWENTHAL, 
and Mr. MCEACHIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend Public Law 115–97 (commonly known as the 
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) to repeal the Arctic National 
Wildlife Refuge oil and gas program, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arctic Cultural and 
Coastal Plain Protection Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Americans cherish the continued existence 
of expansive, unspoiled wilderness ecosystems and 
wildlife found on their public lands and feel a strong 
moral responsibility to protect this wilderness herit-
age as an enduring resource to bequeath undis-
turbed to future generations of Americans. 
(2) It is widely believed by ecologists, wildlife 
scientists, public land specialists, and other experts 
that the wilderness ecosystem centered around and 
dependent upon the Arctic coastal plain of the Arctic 
National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, represents the 
very epitome of a primeval wilderness ecosystem and 
constitutes the greatest wilderness area and diversity 
of wildlife habitats of its kind in the United States. 
(3) President Dwight D. Eisenhower initiated 
protection of the wilderness values of the Arctic 
coastal plain in 1960 when he set aside 8,900,000 
acres establishing the Arctic National Wildlife Range 
expressly ‘‘for the purpose of preserving unique wild-
life, wilderness and recreational values’’. 
(4) When the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 
was established in 1980 by paragraph (2) of section 
303 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Con-
servation Act (Public Law 96–487; 94 Stat. 90; 23 
16 U.S.C. 668dd note), subparagraph (B) recog-
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nized the following four additional purposes of the 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: 
(A) ‘‘To conserve fish and wildlife popu-
lations and habitats in their natural diversity 
including the Porcupine caribou herd’’. 
(B) ‘‘To fulfill the international treaty obli-
gations for the United States with respect to 
fish and wildlife and their habitats’’. 
(C) ‘‘To provide . . . the opportunity for 
continued subsistence use by local residents’’. 
(D) ‘‘To ensure . . . water quality and 
quantity within the refuge’’. 
(5) A majority of Americans have supported 
and continue to support preserving and protecting 
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, including the 
Arctic coastal plain, from any industrial development 
and consider oil and gas exploration and develop-
ment in particular to be incompatible with the pur-
poses for which this incomparable wilderness eco-
system has been set aside. 
(6) Canada has taken action to preserve those 
portions of the wilderness ecosystem of the Arctic 
that exist on its side of the international border and 
provides strong legal protection for the habitat of 
the Porcupine caribou herd that migrates annually 
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through both countries to calve on the Arctic coastal 
plain. 
(7) The Gwich’in people of eastern Alaska and 
Northwestern Canada have relied on the Porcupine 
caribou herd for millennia and caribou is a vital cul-
tural, spiritual, and nutritional resource for the 
Gwich’in. 
(8) The Arctic is being impacted by climate 
change at unprecedented levels. Temperatures are 
rising at twice the rate of the rest of the country, 
and wildlife and habitat that depend on the Arctic 
are being detrimentally impacted. 
(9) Title II, section 20001 of Public Law 115– 
97 (commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) 
would allow an oil and gas program on the Coastal 
Plain. Oil and gas activities are not compatible with 
the protection of this national treasure. 
(10) Repeal of section 20001 would best protect 
the unspoiled ecosystem of the Coastal Plain, the 
human rights of the Gwich’in, and the integrity of 
the National Wildlife Refuge System. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
The Congress hereby declares that it is the policy of 
the United States— 
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(1) to honor the decades of bipartisan efforts 
that have increasingly protected the great wilderness 
ecosystem of the Arctic coastal plain; 
(2) to sustain this natural treasure for the cur-
rent generation of Americans; 
(3) to honor and respect the human rights of 
the Gwich’in; and 
(4) to do everything possible to protect and pre-
serve this magnificent natural ecosystem so that it 
may be bequeathed in its unspoiled natural condition 
to future generations of Americans. 
SEC. 4. REPEAL OF ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE 
OIL AND GAS PROGRAM. 
Section 20001 of Public Law 115–97 is hereby re-
pealed. 
Æ 
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