I recently joined other Maine businesses in thanking Sen. Susan Collins for her decades of work protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Arctic refuge, a majestic place, holds a special place in my Mainer’s heart.

Two years ago, it was my great honor to be selected as artist in residence for Arctic refuge by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. While there, I studied and sketched the variety of birds that use the coastal plain to raise young. It was a deeply moving landscape teeming with life, including many birds that migrate through the lower 48. The coastal plain needs protection.

Unfortunately, a provision that was slipped into a tax bill in 2017 mandates that two oil and gas lease sales happen in this fragile place. That program was originally projected to yield $1.1 billion for the U.S. treasury but the first lease sale in January was a total flop, generating less than 1 percent of the revenue that was projected.

On top of that, no major oil companies showed up to bid and the average price per acre that was bid was literally pennies on the dollar. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is simply bad business. As a business owner, I know that if I were to make business decisions like that, I would be out of business fast. In our letter to Sen. Collins we wrote, “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.” Drilling in the Arctic refuge is not economically wise.

The remote nature of the refuge, combined with global appetite (and need) to limit climate pollution, make drilling in the coastal plain an expensive risk that’s not worth taking. The financial risks are so clear that all major banks in the United States and Canada are among the two dozen banks around the world that have announced they will not fund any new oil and gas development in the Arctic refuge. Drilling in the refuge just doesn’t make financial sense and isn’t worth the risks.

On top of that, as we continue to experience the devastating impacts of climate change, we know that we must pivot away from fossil fuels and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Drilling for oil on the fragile coastal plain undermines those commitments and would only exacerbate the climate and ecological crisis in an area that is already ground zero for climate change. The Arctic and the Gulf of Maine both have the unfortunate distinction of being the fastest warming areas of our world.

Despite the fact that the first lease sale was legally dubious and an absolute failure, a second lease sale is still mandated by law by 2024. Especially now that we have proof that the budgetary impact of the 2017 drilling provision was vastly overstated, we have a perfect opportunity to correct this mistake. We need Congress to repeal the drilling mandate in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and work with President Biden to restore protections for the Arctic refuge. Right now, the Biden administration and Congress have their best opportunity to work together to both administratively and legislatively restore protections for the Arctic refuge through budget reconciliation.

For these reasons, and in defense of Indigenous human rights, protection of wildlife, and the health of future generations, please continue to stand with 70 percent of voters in the United States who oppose drilling in the Arctic refuge. I hope that Sen. Collins will continue her long tenure of leading bipartisan efforts to protect this special place, permanently, by legislative means.