Our Maine small business, Chimani — along with over 40 Maine businesses — recently signed onto a letter thanking Sen. Susan Collins for her decades of leadership protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

As she said in 2002, she “led the fight to block drilling in the Arctic — a hard issue, but one that I felt so strongly about. We need to preserve those treasures for future generations.”

Then in 2008, she said: “I don’t think the first place we should go drill is in a wildlife refuge.” And during the budget resolution in 2017, she was the only Republican to vote for an amendment to stop drilling in the refuge from ever being part of the tax reform bill, and then voted to strip it during floor consideration.

We thank Sen. Collins for her strong support for protecting the Arctic Refuge over the decades and encourage her to continue to champion this special place, and help protect it permanently.

As Maine businesses, our long-term financial success and economic sustainability are important to us. We look for similar fiscal prudence in our country’s priorities and investments. Yet the Arctic Refuge oil and gas lease sale held this past January, the first of two that were mandated in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, was an abysmal failure. It raised only approximately $6 million for the U.S. Treasury, or less than 1% of the $1.8 billion in revenue promised to American taxpayers for both lease sales.

This year’s lease sale failed to receive interest from the oil and gas industry, and a public corporation owned by the state of Alaska placed nearly all of the winning bids — an entity that does not even have the ability to develop the leases. The only other bidders were two tiny companies that each picked up a single oil lease.

As we continue to experience the devastating impacts of climate change, and we pivot away from fossil fuels, it is no wonder companies are not interested in drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Drilling for oil on the fragile coastal plain would exacerbate the climate and ecological crisis in an area that is already ground zero for climate change.

The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. As Sen. Collins so astutely said in 2004 in her testimony for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s “Global Climate Change: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment” hearing, after a trip to the Norwegian Arctic:

“Although the climate is changing most rapidly in the Arctic, the entire world will be affected. The Arctic is the canary in the mine that should serve as a warning to the rest of us. Warming in the Arctic is likely to have major implications for the entire planet. Western states could experience longer and more severe droughts. Coastal states could experience flooding and other problems as a result of global sea level rise. In Maine, the ski industry, agriculture, and fisheries could be particularly hard-hit.”

In other words, what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. It comes to Maine’s shores.

In defense of Indigenous human rights, protection of wildlife, and for the health of future generations, we ask Sen. Collins to continue to stand with 59% of Maine voters and more than 70% of voters in the United States who oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Even the six largest U.S. banks and two dozen international banks have adopted policies to preclude financing for Arctic oil and gas development.

Unless Congress takes action, a second Arctic Refuge lease sale is mandated by the 2017 Tax Act. We urge Sen. Collins to continue leading bi-partisan efforts to protect, as she said, “these treasures for future generations.” We need her to prevent the destruction of this wildlife refuge by restoring protections now through legislative means and by encouraging her colleagues to join her.

We are so thankful to Sen. Collins for supporting protections for the environment and wildlife and efforts to preserve our national parks, wildlife refuges and national forests for enjoyment by the American people.

Kerry Gallivan of Yarmouth is the founder & CEO of Chimani, a Maine-based mobile app company that is one of the leading travel guides for exploring public lands. Since founding Chimani in 2010, Gallivan has been actively involved in advocating for increased conservation throughout the world.