Environmental plan needed for the Arctic 

December 19, 2009 
There is at present an open U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Public comment
period for the proposed critical habitat for the polar bear.

Polar bears have become the canary in the coal mine for climate change,
as more and more are seen struggling in open waters of the melting Arctic
Ocean. If current conditions continue, experts believe the entire Arctic
polar bear population could disappear by 2050.

The Interior Department has proposed more than 200,000 square miles of
America's Arctic as polar bear critical habitat under the Endangered
Species Act. But those protections are meaningless if oil drilling is
allowed inside their critical habitat.
Currently, almost the entire Arctic Ocean has been proposed for oil and
gas development. Commercial fishing has been declared on hold until more
study can be done to access the impacts on the Arctic environment.

Any new offshore oil and gas development should be put on hold until a
comprehensive plan based on sound science and traditional knowledge is
developed to determine if, where, when and how such activities should
occur.

- Phyllis Mains, chair, Alaska Coalition of Iowa, Van Wert
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