AlaskaWild Update #270 - December 6, 2007
- Congress and YOU Send Administration Clear Message: Protect the Polar Bear Seas and Teshekpuk Lake!
- Court to Rule on Shell’s Plan to Drill offshore of Arctic Refuge
- Happy Birthday to the Arctic Refuge!
Congress and YOU Send Administration Clear Message: Protect the Polar Bear Seas and Teshekpuk Lake!
Over the past year, we have witnessed increasing momentum in the effort to protect the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas – together known as the Polar Bear Seas – and the Teshekpuk Lake wetlands. Over the past two months, many of you took action and urged your representatives and senators to contact the administration and request that these special places remain off-limits to industry. Thanks to your efforts, more elected officials understand that to preserve the arctic in its current, wild state, we must act now.
On October 15, Senator Kerry sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne supporting the proposal to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and requesting protections for the polar bear’s arctic habitat. Thanks to emails from you, 10 senators joined him in contacting the administration. Together, the group of courageous senators warned against aggressively promoting oil and gas development in the Polar Bear Seas, especially in light of recent government studies projecting continued loss of polar bear habitat from melting sea ice. Simply put, it would be irresponsible to promote large-scale industrial development without knowing more about the ecological values of the area in general and, more specifically, without understanding the way that global warming is changing the region. Click here to read the senators’ letter.
On November 6, thanks to more of your emails, the House of Representatives also took action for America’s arctic. Led by Representatives Gilchrest (R-MD) and McCollum (D-MN), a group of 63 representatives asked the administration to keep the Teshekpuk Lake wetlands free from oil rigs. For 30 years, Teshekpuk Lake – the largest lake in America’s arctic – and its surrounding wetlands have been protected and federally designated as a “Special Area” because of the area’s vital importance to migratory birds, caribou, and nearby Alaska Native villages. For the second year in a row, the House took a strong stand and requested that these protections remain in a place, a well-needed response to the Bush administration’s fixation with ever-expanding the reach of the oil industry on Alaska’s North Slope. Click here to read the representatives’ letter.
Gilchrest and McCollum’s letter was submitted to the administration during an official public comment period. For 60 days, the public was invited to comment on the administration’s plan to open the Teshekpuk Lake wetlands to the oil and gas industry. Like the 63 representatives, many of you took action and directly contacted the administration. Together, more than 100,000 people from across the country expressed their desire to see this special and internationally significant wildlife habitat protected for future generations. Now the administration will review the comments and in the upcoming months will release its final plan. While we cannot predict the details of the final plan, we should all feel confident that we have sent a clear signal to the administration that the American public does not support development in the ecologically sensitive wetlands around Teshekpuk Lake.
Court to Rule on Shell’s Plan to Drill offshore of Arctic Refuge
Tuesday, December 4, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments regarding Shell Offshore Inc.’s plan to explore for oil and gas offshore of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This marks the latest development in what has been a groundbreaking lawsuit over development in America’s Arctic Ocean. In April, Alaska Wilderness League, REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction of Indigenous Lands), and several other conservation groups filed suit against the Minerals Management Service (MMS) for approving Shell’s proposal to explore for oil and gas in the Beaufort Sea. In July, the court issued a temporary order halting all of Shell’s activities until the court heard the merits of the case and issued a decision. The judge’s final decision in the case is expected sometime in the spring.
An indigenous graveyard in arctic Alaska. Bowhead whale bones are in the foreground. (Photo © Subhankar Banerjee)
The harsh, arctic waters of the Beaufort Sea present significant challenges to the oil industry. The likelihood of a significant oil spill is acknowledged by the Bush administration and the oil industry has yet to demonstrate proven and effective means of recovering such a spill. Despite these risks and the threats that they represent to polar bears, whales, and nearby subsistence-based communities, the MMS approved Shell’s plans through a rushed and inadequate process.
The New York Times has recently covered the issue, highlighting the consequences of offshore development for local whaling communities that depend on the icy waters for their livelihood. The well-written story acknowledges the oil and gas industry’s perspective but also manages to return humanity to an issue too often mired in numbers and rhetoric. When discussing the Inupiat’s culture and perspective, the article helps remind us all what is truly at stake. Click here to read the article. Also, be sure to check out the 5-minute multimedia presentation that the New York Times created to supplement the story.
Happy Birthday to the Arctic Refuge!
Forty-seven years ago today, on December 6, 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the Arctic National Wildlife Range. The Range would later be doubled in size and renamed the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge under President Carter, but it was Eisenhower who began the bipartisan legacy of arctic conservation. According to Fred Seaton, the Secretary of the Interior under Eisenhower, the Arctic Refuge “offers the only opportunity for this Nation to preserve an undisturbed portion of the Arctic large enough to be biologically self-sufficient.”
Celebrate the Arctic Refuge’s birthday by taking action. Honor President Eisenhower’s vision of a protected arctic ecosystem and urge your senators and your representative to support Wilderness designation for the Arctic Refuge.
