Big corporate funders bet millions on this year’s election and won — and will look to cash in their chips starting in January with the new Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Chief among these corporate funders is the oil and gas industry, which spent $19.5 million to elect pro-drilling candidates. Big Oil is looking for an immediate return on their investment, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is high on their list of targets.

For decades oil companies have waged a dogged campaign to drill in the Arctic Refuge, one of the most beautiful and pristine wild places on earth. With new pro-drilling candidates to take office in January, we need to take immediate action to protect this precious refuge.

Help protect the Arctic Refuge before Congress ever bangs a gavel next year: Urge President Obama to designate the Arctic Refuge as a National Monument, like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, so it is no longer threatened by the whims of politicians.

The Arctic Refuge is one of our nation’s last refuges for wildlife – it is invaluable, iconic and a living monument to America’s unique wilderness heritage. Big mammals like caribou and polar bears still roam across the Arctic Refuge. It is home to millions of the world’s birds — including snow geese and bald eagles. They return each year to find refuge from a world of encroaching hazards.

For 50 years this remarkable place has been kept safe, protected from human development, because of people like you have been willing to stand up to the oil and gas interests determined to “drill baby drill.”  Now that the elections are over, as Americans, we have a moral and civic duty to ensure that the peace in the Arctic Refuge is not broken by big drilling machines – not on our watch.

With a new, more drilling-friendly House of Representatives, and the Refuge’s 50th anniversary coming up, President Obama can do the right thing and make a real statement that America will not submit its greatest treasures to the follies of politics.

Tell the President: Protect the Arctic Refuge as a National Monument.

Thank you for taking action,