Time Out in the Arctic

As America marks the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, now would be a good time for Americans to let their lawmakers know what they think about drilling in the Arctic

One of the eleventh-hour moves by the outgoing Bush administration was to speed up the leasing of 73 million acres of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas of the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Alaska to oil and gas exploration.

While there may be upwards of 30 billion barrels of oil locked beneath the seabed, this area also happens to be the home of every single one of America's endangered polar bears, already fighting for their survival as the ice where they live melts away due to climate change.

The region is also home to endangered bowhead whales, threatened sea ducks known as Spectacled and Steller's eiders, walrus and several species of ice seals.

In an official statement yesterday, the Audubon Society asserted that "scientists still do not have enough data on the Arctic marine ecosystem and the potential impacts from climate change, let alone the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development coupled with a changing climate."

The environmental group has recommended that the Obama administration call for "a time-out on oil and gas related activities off the coast of Alaska until critical habitat is designated for the polar bear, additional research is conducted and the potential impacts of development in the Arctic are better understood."

In an editorial yesterday on AlaskaDispatch.com, Craig Culp of the Alaska Wilderness League wrote, "As the lingering effects of the Exxon Valdez remind us every day - still - oil and the Arctic just don't mix."

The Department of Interior's Mineral Management Service (MMS), which estimates a 40 percent chance of an oil spill resulting from the development of this area, is seeking public comments on an Environmental Impact Statement that would open up the Arctic Ocean to new drilling.

GET INVOLVED

• Sign an Audubon letter urging the Department of Interior's Mineral Management Service (MMS) to stop lease sales in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and allow additional scientific research and development of a new, comprehensive conservation and energy plan for the Arctic

RELATED POSTS

• Selling the Arctic's Future to the Oil Industry (March 9, 2009)
• Polar Bears Are in Serious Trouble (February 24, 2009)
• Farewell to the Polar Bears (January 14, 2009)
• Bush Withholds Protections for Threatened Seal (December 26, 2008)
  
• Using Art to Tell the Sad Tale of Polar Bears (September 29, 2008)
• Polar Bears Swimming Miles from Coast Cause Concern (August 23, 2008)
• North Pole May Be Ice-Free in Five Years (August 12, 2008)
• Lawsuit Filed to Protect Wildlife from Oil Drilling (July 12, 2008)
• U.S. Lists Polar Bear as Endangered, But With Limits (May 16, 2008)

photo: polar bear mother and cub, Liefdefjord, Svalbard, by Michael Haferkamp