http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=139261.0
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 22, 2009
Contact:
Kristina Johnson
(415) 977-5619
Sierra Club Applauds Habitat
Designation for Polar Bear
Offshore Drilling Remains
Threat
Washington, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
announced a
proposal to designate more than 128 million acres of Alaskan
coastline and
waters as critical habitat for the polar bear.In May 2008 the
Department of
the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species
under the
Endangered Species Act. Today's proposal, required by the
Endangered
Species Act, follows on a decision earlier this week by the
Minerals
Management Service to approve offshore oil drilling in key polar
bear
habitat in Alaska's Beaufort Sea. The agency is also considering
drilling
plans for polar bear habitat in the Chukchi Sea.
Statement of
Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope:
We applaud the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service for designating critical
habitat for the polar bear. This is
an important first step. Now, if we
want America's polar bears to survive, we
must also address global warming
and eliminate the threat of offshore
drilling.
There is no question that polar bears are in trouble. Studies
have
documented plunging survival rates for polar bear cubs and diminishing
body
weights for adults as a result of melting sea ice. Bears that
are
accustomed to hunting on ice have been stranded on land, and in some
cases
have drowned. Scientists warn that without protection, polar bears
could
disappear by 2050.
We need to do everything possible to help
polar bears survive, including
eliminating the threat of offshore drilling.
There is no environmentally
sound way to drill for oil polar bear habitat.
Pipelines, boat traffic,
drilling platforms, and ice-breaking vessels are
just a few of the risks
that come with offshore oil development.
Where
there is drilling, there are oil spills. There is no proven method
for
cleaning up oil in the Arctic’s broken sea ice, and once a bear makes
contact
with even a small amount of oil, it loses its ability to insulate
and can die
of hypothermia and ingestion.
We don’t need to sacrifice polar bears and
other wildlife just so oil
companies can break their billion-dollar profit
records. America already
has the technology and the will to embrace a clean
energy economy that will
end our dependence on oil and leave pristine places
like the Arctic, and
its wildlife, intact.
Kristina Johnson
Deputy
Press Secretary
Sierra Club
Office: (415) 977-5619
Cell: (541)
914-9744
85 Second Street - 2nd Floor
San Francisco, CA
94105-3459
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