AlaskaWild Update #276 - April 3, 2008
- Oil Industry Testifies Before Congress About Gas Prices and Offshore Drilling
- Effects of Global Warming? Polar Bear Travels Record Distance on Land
- Notes from the Field: A Real Polar Bear in Pennsylvania?
Oil Industry Testifies Before Congress About Gas Prices and Offshore Drilling
Big Oil has some big questions to answer. As their profits continue to grow, so does the price at the pump. With the national average price for a gallon of gas reaching a record high at the beginning of the week, Congress is demanding an explanation.
On Tuesday, April 1, top executives from five of the largest oil and gas companies were questioned at a hearing held by the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the sponsor of the Arctic Refuge Wilderness bill and a leader in the efforts to protect the Polar Bear Seas, serves as chairman of the committee.
Unfortunately, the oil executives refused to take any share of responsibility for energy prices and problems. Instead, they expressed resentment that incentives have shifted to developing alternatives energies. They also blamed the government for not allowing more offshore drilling, seemingly suggesting that the oil industry should be entitled to drill wherever it like.
The oil industry’s response to Congress underscores their interest in drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, together known as the Polar Bear Seas. Despite the risk of further damaging America’s only polar bear populations, oil companies are determined to drill in Alaska’s icy waters. And even though the oil industry has not demonstrated a way to successfully clean up an oil spill on ice, the Bush administration has given them the green light to proceed with their drilling plans.
Thanks to Rep. Markey and other leaders in Congress, there is still a way to protect the most important polar bear habitat from Big Oil. Take action and urge your representative to save the polar bear from Big Oil’s dirty reach.
Effects of Global Warming? Polar Bear Travels Record Distance on Land
Last week we heard an amazing polar bear story. For the first time ever, a polar bear was seen 250 miles inland in Alaska, far surpassing the previous record of 125 miles away from shore. The polar bear was found in Fort Yukon, a small village located south of the Brooks Range.
Biologists are baffled as to why the polar bear would have crossed steep mountains and ventured so far inland. There is no evidence that global warming is the explanation for this bizarre story, but it hasn’t been ruled out as a factor. Regardless, the story does remind us that melting sea ice is forcing more and more polar bears onshore.
As the polar bear’s preferred habitat offshore literally melts away, parts of Alaska’s North Slope become more critical for the polar bear’s survival. The Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the most important on-land denning site for polar bears, providing yet another reason to protect this beautiful and wild area.
For the sake of the polar bears, take action and ask your representative to protect the Arctic Refuge as Wilderness.
Notes from the Field: A Real Polar Bear in Pennsylvania?
When we talk about a polar bear in Pennsylvania, we are usually referring to our Alaska Wilderness League mascot, Ice-P. But in February’s near-blizzard weather, over 80 activists gathered at the Pittsburgh Zoo to see real live polar bears.
The polar bears pleased the crowds at the Pittsburgh Zoo and prompted many to ask how they could help protect the iconic species.
The Pittsburgh citizens were treated to a unique program designed to educate attendees about the polar bear as a species, their habitat as an environment, and the many problems that threaten the survival of this iconic species.
This program was held just after the Bush administration held Lease Sale 193 in the Chukchi Sea. The oil and gas lease sale, which generated substantial local and national opposition, opened nearly 30 million acres of polar bear habitat to the oil and gas industry.
To explain the potential effects of this controversial lease sale on the polar bear, Monica Scherer – Alaska Wilderness League’s Pennsylvania Field Staff – and writer Chad Kister gave a slideshow presentation. Kister, who has traveled to Alaska’s North Slope several times and written a couple of books about these arctic quests, helped drive home the day’s simple message: to protect the polar bear, we must protect its valuable habitat in the Arctic Refuge and the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
Everyone in attendance took the message to heart and immediately took action following the presentation, writing letters and urging their members of Congress to protect the polar bear’s Alaskan habitat.
