Make Your Voice Heard! How to Comment on Trump’s Offshore Drilling Plan
Donald’s administration is proposing one of the largest expansions of offshore oil and gas drilling in US history including opening nearly all federal waters off Alaska. Public comments are one of the strongest tools we have to oppose this plan and protect Arctic waters, coastal communities and our climate.
Deadline: January 23, 2026
Why Your Comment Matters
Federal agencies are required to review and respond to public comments. A strong record of opposition, especially comments grounded in lived experience Indigenous knowledge and local impacts can influence the final decision, strengthen legal challenges and show overwhelming public resistance to sacrificing our oceans for oil industry profits.
Even short comments matter. Personal comments matter most.
Key Points to Include, you do not need to include everything. Pick one to three points and make them personal.
This plan puts Alaska and the Arctic at extreme risk
The proposal would open nearly all federal waters off Alaska more than one billion acres to offshore drilling. Arctic drilling is uniquely dangerous. Oil spill cleanup in icy remote waters is virtually impossible. Previous Arctic drilling attempts have failed, cost billions and caused serious accidents.
Offshore drilling threatens Indigenous communities and ways of life
Alaska Native communities rely on healthy oceans for food security culture and survival. Species like bowhead whales, belugas seals and fish are central to subsistence lifeways and are threatened by industrial activity. Many tribes and Alaska Native organizations have repeatedly and clearly opposed offshore drilling.
This is unnecessary and driven by oil company profits
The US is already producing more oil than any country in history.
Oil companies hold millions of acres of unused offshore leases.
New leases will not lower gas prices. They lock in decades of pollution while padding corporate profits.
Offshore drilling endangers economies not just ecosystems
Alaska's fishing and tourism industries depend on clean, healthy oceans.
A single spill could devastate fisheries, coastal jobs and local economies for generations. Communities are being asked to shoulder the risk while oil companies take the rewards.
Public input and protections are being undermined
This plan threatens to weaken environmental review and public oversight.
Communities most affected are being sidelined in decisions about their own homelands and waters.
How to Write an Effective Comment:
Be personal. Agencies give more weight to unique comments.
You can share where you live and your connection to the ocean or Arctic.
You can speak from lived experience, culture or community impact.
Clearly state your opposition to the offshore drilling plan.
Avoid copy and paste form letters if possible. Even a few original sentences makes a difference.
Simple Comment Template:
Use this as a starting point and change it to make it your own:
I strongly oppose the Trump administration's proposed offshore drilling plan. Opening federal waters especially in the Arctic and off Alaska puts community’s wildlife and our climate at unacceptable risk.
Offshore drilling threatens Indigenous food security subsistence practices and ways of life that have existed for thousands of years. In Arctic waters an oil spill would be impossible to fully clean up and the damage would be permanent.
This plan is unnecessary. Oil companies already hold vast unused leases and the US is producing record levels of oil. Expanding offshore drilling only benefits fossil fuel corporations while placing frontline communities in harm's way.
I urge the Department of the Interior to reject this plan and protect our oceans' climate and future generations.
Where to Submit Your Comment:
official Federal Register portal link:
Deadline: January 23, 2026
Take Action with SILA
SILA works to protect Arctic lands, waters and Indigenous lifeways. Sharing your voice is one step, organizing together is how we win.
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Our future is not for sale.