Revoke Bush Plan to Drill in 'Polar Bear Seas'

Action Alert

Revoke Bush Plan to Drill in 'Polar Bear Seas'

The icy waters of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, north of Alaska, are home to 20 percent of the world's remaining polar bear population. Thanks to George Bush, these waters might also become home to a massive and dangerous network of oil rigs and pipelines. On his way out of Washington, Bush proposed the largest block yet of Arctic Ocean waters for drilling – right in the heart of threatened polar bear habitat. Oil spills are a certainty in that harsh climate and no technology exists to clean them up. Drilling is simply not worth it.

President Obama recently asked Americans to usher in a new era of responsibility. The Bush plan is still pending, presenting the new administration an important opportunity to demonstrate responsible stewardship of our natural heritage. Send a public comment today: Call on the government to halt all new drilling in the Polar Bear Seas. It's the only responsible path.

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Minerals Management Service in Alaska

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Subject:
Comment for Beaufort-Chukchi Multi-Lease Sale (LEA-AK-0009) and Proposed 5-yr Plan

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I write to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for lease sales 209, 212, 217, and 221 in the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea Planning Areas (Multi-Lease Sale DEIS).  I also write to provide comment on former President Bush's Draft Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (Five-Year Program).

I urge Interior Secretary Salazar and President Obama to take a time-out and immediately halt all activities related to these environmentally dangerous proposals.  The Beaufort and Chukchi Seas make up America's Arctic Ocean. Covered largely by sea ice much of the year, this ocean has long been one of the world's most unique marine ecosystems. America's entire polar bear population is found here, along with endangered bowhead whales, beluga whales, walruses, seals, sea birds and more.  The Inupiat people of Alaska's North Slope depend on these living marine resources for the survival of their subsistence culture.

Currently, the Arctic region is suffering the impacts of global warming like no other region on earth. The ice that is a vital part of the ecosystem's survival is melting at an alarming rate -- surpassing scientist's predictions. Tundra is receding into the sea.  It makes no sense to compound this stress to the Arctic ecosystem with the impacts of massive and environmentally dangerous oil and gas development, as the Bush administration did at a break-neck pace.  The Bush administration estimated a 40 percent chance of a large oil spill resulting from development in the Chukchi Sea, which could cause significant harm to polar bears and other marine life. Yet, no technology exists to clean up oil spilled in the often icy and harsh conditions of the Arctic Ocean.

During his eight years in office President Bush expanded offshore leasing in the Beaufort Sea by almost 750 percent to 1.68 million acres.  Last year, his administration leased almost 2.8 million additional acres in the previously undeveloped Chukchi Sea -- in the heart of polar bear habitat.

The Multi-Lease Sale DEIS proposes four additional lease sales from 2010 to 2012 covering 72.5 million acres in the Polar Bear Seas.  Moreover, the new Bush Five-Year Program proposes expanding this already vast leasing area by 76 percent to almost 128 million acres, and adds two additional lease sales in 2014 and 2015.

Now is the time for the Obama administration to stop this environmentally disastrous rush to drill in the Arctic.  We must move forward  on a new course of responsible stewardship of these waters and the marine and human life they support, before it is too late.  The Bush administration admitted that it did not have full scientific baseline date to determine the full impact of oil and gas activity in the Arctic Ocean.  The Obama administration has the opportunity to take a time out and step back and undertake the necessary scientific and cultural studies to determine the true impact of development in this sensitive ecosystem.

Secretary of the Interior Salazar has the authority under the law to halt these dangerous oil and gas leasing proposals until it is determined that any oil and gas activity in the Arctic Ocean can be done in a manner that does not pose significant risk to the environment.  I urge Secretary Salazar to use this authority to halt these two Bush administration drilling initiatives. It is time that the Department of Interior once again fulfills its role to be a responsible steward of our natural heritage.

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