"One arm of the Interior Department has set Feb. 6 for oil lease sales for
30 million acres of the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, where 20 percent of the
world's 25,000 polar bears live.
But another Interior agency has taken the past year to study whether the
bears should be declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a move
that would hamper drilling. That study, due on Jan. 9, was delayed a month -
several days after the planned oil lease sale."
The polar bear is one of nature's most beautiful and powerful creations. But
now global warming plus degradation of its habitat through increased
offshore drilling are threatening to eradicate completely this magnificent
symbol of the Wild Arctic.
The alarming loss of ice in Alaska's Arctic Ocean forces bears to swim long
distances to hunt. Increasingly polar bears are found drowned, starving, or
underweight. Scientists make the dire prediction that we could lose this
stately animal before the end of the century unless we put the brakes on
global warming pollution and stabilize sea ice decline.
How can you help?
Two weeks ago, the Bush administration announced that it would delay making
a final decision on the proposal to list the polar bear as threatened under
the Endangered Species Act. Now, with an oil and gas lease sale scheduled
for early February in the Chukchi Sea, it is likely that the administration
will be able to sell vital polar bear habitat to oil companies before
deciding how to best protect the polar bear and its habitat.
Fortunately, Congressional leaders are taking action. Seeking to correct the
administration's backwards approach, Representative Ed Markey (D-MA)
introduced a bill on January 17 (HR 5058) that would require the Department
of the Interior to rule on the proposed polar bear listing before it could
proceed with its plan to open the polar bear's habitat to the oil and gas
industry.
Representatives Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Jay Inslee (D-WA), and John Larson
(D-CT) are original cosponsors of this bill. You can help their effort to
ensure that the polar bear and its arctic habitat receive protections under
the Endangered Species Act.
Please take action! Urge your representative to support this legislation
and protect the polar bear's habitat in the Chukchi Sea before it's too
late.
Contact your representative at his or her local district office, or call the
U.S. Capitol; switchboard in DC at 202-224-3121 to be connected to your
rep's
office.
Your message can be short: one sentence to ask for support for Mr. Markey's
HR 5058, and one sentence to personalize your message; what do polar bears
mean for you?
Background:
Sierra Club supports all efforts to protect the polar bear. Listing the
polar bear as a threatened species acknowledges for the first time that
global warming poses a threat to its survival. A listing will help us use
the technology and tools we have to combat global warming and prevent
further loss of sea ice.
As a nation, we must decrease our reliance on the dirty energy sources that
cause global warming. Otherwise, the polar ice caps will continue to melt
away. Some analysts believe the Arctic icecap could totally disappear by the
year 2050, which will be a catastrophe for polar bears and many other
animals, including humans.
Urge your representative to help save the polar bear by convincing the
Department of Interior to designate it as a threatened species. Ask your rep
to take all possible steps to stop dangerous and dirty offshore oil drilling
in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas -- America's Polar Bear Seas.
HR 5058 by Rep Markey would "prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from
selling any oil and gas lease for any tract in the Lease Sale 193 Area of
the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Region until the Secretary determines
whether to list the polar bear as a threatened species or an endangered
species under the Endangered Species Act." Lease sale 193 for the Chukchi
Sea (the western portion of Alaska's Arctic Ocean-west of the Beaufort Sea)
was published in the Federal Register on January 2, 2008, by the Minerals
Management Service.
Thanks for starting the new year with action for Wild Alaska!
Vicky Hoover, Sierra Club
staff, Alaska Task Force
85 Second St., 2nd floor
San Francisco, CA 94105-3459
(415)977-5527
fax:(415)977-5799
[log in to unmask]
Bad news, bears
White House considers drilling plan
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Next month, the Bush White House will choose polar bears or oil derricks in
the sea ice off the Alaska coast. The early betting, no surprise, shows a
decided tilt toward drilling.
One arm of the Interior Department has set Feb. 6 for oil lease sales for 30
million acres of the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, where 20 percent of the world's
25,000 polar bears live.
But another Interior agency has taken the past year to study whether the
bears should be declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act, a move
that would hamper drilling. That study, due on Jan. 9, was delayed a month -
several days after the planned oil lease sale.
The lame explanation is that study is taking more time than expected. Also,
even if there is drilling, it won't harm the bears, Interior brass told a
congressional panel.
But these are excuses for the corrupted science and industry favoritism that
characterizes the Bush team's approach to the environment.
The bears, in all their photogenic glory, are a nightmare for the White
House. Their plight is due to global warming, a reality that the Bush team
has only lately and lightly acknowledged. Two-thirds of their numbers may
disappear by 2050 as their sea-ice homes melt away.
Now add oil and gas rigs to this picture. One Interior Department study
estimates there is a 33 to 51 percent chance of an accidental oil spill that
could harm the bears, which hunt seals in the open water.
Preserving these animals will be hard enough, given the widespread sources
of global warming. But adding oil drilling as an extra pressure only
compounds the problem. Leave the bears alone, Mr. President.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/24/EDEQUJQI0.DTL
This article appeared on page B - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Forwarded by Jane Clark
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]
Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp
|
