Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Alaska’s Chukchi sea is teeming with an incredible array of wildlife and is home to imperiled creatures such as polar bears, bowhead whales and spectacled eiders. Despite the importance and fragility of this region, the Obama administration agreed to let the Shell Oil Company drill there this summer. If a spill occurs in these waters, it could be far more difficult and costly to clean up than even the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Defenders’ staffers Lauren and Kaitlyn participated in the White House event organized by Alaska Wilderness League in cooperation with several other conservation groups including Sierra Club, 350.org, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Credo Action.

Two years later, the Gulf of Mexico is still reeling from BP's oil disaster.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before.” One hears this phrase far too often along the brilliant white beaches, dark bayous, and hidden back bays of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Despite falling off the precipice of media attention, people in the Gulf have not forgotten what happened here in spring of 2010. Even if they tried, nature would keep sending them—and the rest of us—constant reminders.

Two years ago today, BP’s Deepwater Horizon well exploded, unleashing more than 200 million gallons of toxic crude oil into the Gulf. Combined with nearly 2 million gallons of chemical dispersant and 500,000 more tons of gaseous hydrocarbons, a mind-bending volume of pollutants were ultimately dumped into Gulf waters. By far the largest spill in U.S. history, the cumulative size of the surface slick alone was large enough to cover the entire state of Oklahoma.

So, what do we now know about the spill’s environmental impacts? It’s still too early to understand most of the damages (some caused by Alaska’s Exxon Valdez oil spill took a decade or more to detect), but what we already know is unsettling enough. Let’s begin with seafood, a major industry and economic driver in the Gulf. In 2008, the seafood industry drove a robust $5.5 billion economic engine for the region. Yet despite reopening the once-closed fishing zones, and disclaimers after the spill that Gulf seafood is safe, a scientific study found that Food and Drug Administration guidelines allowed up to 10,000 times too much contamination, and did not properly identify the true risks of the Gulf’s contaminated seafood to children and pregnant women.

Oiled pelicans were the most striking, but certainly not the only, wildlife to be impacted by the disaster.

If that were not enough, Gulf fishermen report shrimp without eyes, fish covered in open sores, clawless crabs, and other mutated and underdeveloped catch. Crabbers are harvesting 75 percent fewer crabs than in years before the spill, and the crabs they do catch are often dead, discolored, and riddled with holes or missing sections of their shells. In some places, shrimp and oyster harvests remain low, exacerbating the economic deprivation caused by the spill to Gulf residents.

And yet the impacts of the spill go even deeper into the Gulf ecosystem. Hydrocarbons from the Deepwater Horizon spill were first trapped in the ocean food chain through some of its tiniest members: zooplankton. Contaminated zooplankton were actually chemically fingerprinted with certainty back to origins from the Deepwater Horizon blowout. And since zooplankton serve as food for baby fish and shrimp, they help move oil contamination and pollutants up the food chain.

Do we yet know the full scope of harm from this oil spill? Hardly. Links between dolphin deaths and the spill are still being investigated. Since early 2010, an unusually high number of marine mammals — 580, mostly dolphins — stranded and died off the coast of Louisiana to Florida. The total number of marine birds killed by the Deepwater Horizon spill is yet to be tallied. Is there hope for recovery in the Gulf of Mexico? Sure. Did we learn our lessons? Apparently not. Despite the intentions to do better in the future after this unprecedented spill, the Oil Spill Commission gave only a summary grade of “B” to the administration, a “C+” to the oil industry, and a paltry “D” to Congress. If the continuing harm from this tragedy doesn’t teach us that the risks of drilling are simply too high, will we ever learn?

 Learn more:

See how Defenders is working to protect wildlife and natural habitats from the dangers of offshore drilling.

Watch an interview with Chris following his first trip to the Gulf post-Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

Drilling in the Arctic Ocean poses grave threats to America's vanishing polar bears. Photo courtesy USFWS

America’s polar bears are struggling to survive — with biologists predicting they could disappear in just a few short decades. But Big Oil uses your tax dollars to drill in key polar bear habitat.

Sea turtles, dolphins and other Gulf Coast wildlife paid the price of the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster. Yet Big Oil still spends your tax dollars on pursuing more risky drilling in the Gulf and other coastal waters.

Today, the U.S. Senate could vote to end the $4 billion in taxpayer giveaways to Big Oil – but we need your voice to make it happen.

Please call your U.S. Senators today at the numbers below to urge them to support the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act — and end billions of dollars in Big Oil giveaways. 

Just deliver this quick message:

“My name is (NAME) and I live in (STATE) and I’m calling to urge my Senator to support the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act (S. 2204) being voted on today. I want my tax dollars to be invested in clean, renewable energy — and not be used to prop up polluters’ profits.”

Then please tell us about your call. This important step will help track responses from across the country so we can follow up with your lawmakers.

A vote could come as soon as TODAY – Please call now!

Gulf Coast wildlife paid the price of the Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster.

From 2001 to 2011, the top five Big Oil companies raked in more than $1 trillion in profits. But these companies continue to receive $4 billion each year in taxpayer subsidies. With rising gas prices and a fragile economy, why should American taxpayers prop up polluters’ profits? 

Tell your Senators enough is enough! Call now to urge them to end the $4 billion in wasteful taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil.

It seems simple: Instead of putting our polar bears, sea turtles and other wildlife at risk, our tax dollars should be used to invest in long-term, clean energy solutions that will end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels — and put us on a course toward a cleaner, safer energy future.

But as much as this legislation makes sense, passing this bill will not be easy. The oil industry has already shown its reach in this Congress, slipping harmful measures into legislation that would hand over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, our coastal waters and other natural treasures to Big Oil’s dirty drills.

Please call today and deliver a loud, clear message to your Senators: It’s time to end Big Oil’s subsidies — and invest in a cleaner energy future.

One quick call can make a big difference for our wildlife and wild places.

Learn more:

Read what Defenders’ president Jamie Rappaport Clark has to say about Big Oil subsidies and what Congress should do to redirect this country to a more sustainable energy future on National Journal’s Energy and Environment Experts Blog.

Defenders' president and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark

This week, the National Journal’s Energy and Environment Experts Blog asked, “Who’s to blame for high gas prices?“ Read what Defenders president and CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark thinks Congress should do to redirect this country to a more sustainable energy future. 

The phenomenon has become as reliable an indicator of spring as budding trees: gas prices go up just before peak summer driving season begins. Then, just as reliably, by Labor Day they’ve fallen again. According to 2012 Republican presidential candidates, the President of the United States has the ability to dictate these numbers at the pump. If only he had such power. But the reality is, as long as America is dependent on fossil fuels like oil, we’re at the mercy of those factors that influence the global market: Israel’s threatened war with Iran, the reduction in output from certain foreign producers, Wall Street speculators, Middle Eastern countries dominated by political unrest, and oil companies out to make a profit.

If the federal government is serious about redirecting this country to a more sustainable energy future, it should immediately eliminate the subsidies paid out to Big Oil–up to $4 billion each year. Instead of fattening the wallets of Big Oil CEOs, our government should be taking that money and investing it in clean energy solutions and higher fuel efficiency vehicles that will break our country’s dependence on foreign energy and dirty fossil fuels. Some in Congress are already taking steps to do just this. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) recently introduced a measure that would end several tax benefits for major oil companies while extending a series of renewable energy tax breaks that have recently expired or are soon scheduled to do so. A vote on this forward-looking bill is expected in the coming days.

Instead of sacrificing America’s pristine lands and waters to profiteering oil companies, our leaders should be investing in long-term, clean energy and energy efficiency solutions that will end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels and break us from the cycle of rising gas prices forever.

Passing legislation to invest in clean energy solutions will not be easy. The 112^th Congress has an ugly record of voting in favor of Big Oil profits over the public interest, slipping measures into draft legislation like the Transportation Bill that have oil executives licking their chops; measures that seek to open places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or waters off Virginia’s coast to drilling. These efforts to sell off some of our most cherished public lands will do nothing to solve high gas prices this year, next year or for many years to follow, but they are great for oil profits and for the elected officials funded by Big Oil.

Drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will not solve our country's energy needs. Photo courtesy of USFWS

Instead of sacrificing America’s pristine lands and waters to profiteering oil companies, our leaders should be investing in long-term, clean energy and energy efficiency solutions that will end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels and break us from the cycle of rising gas prices forever. Building a renewable energy portfolio will take some time, but by eliminating Big Oil’s tax break giveaway and investing that money in clean energy solutions now, Congress can put us on the track to get there. Without a realistic plan to end our country’s addiction to oil, the Republican leadership’s promise to lower gas prices rings as hollow as an empty gas tank.

Learn more:

Read the full question and see what others are saying on the National Journal’s Energy and Environment Expert Blog.

Stay tuned for how you can help Sen. Menendez pass his bill to end oil subsidies and propel America toward a clean energy future.

The Arctic refuge is the largest onshore denning area for America's polar bears.

BREAKING: In its first vote on the issue since 2008, the U.S. Senate today decisively voted down an amendment to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration (vote count 41-57).

This amendment, offered by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), not only sought to open the Arctic refuge’s coastal plain to drilling, but also would have allowed drilling in vast areas of our nation’s coastal waters, including the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, offshore Virginia and Alaska’s Bristol Bay, would have approved the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and would have reinstated 11th hour regulations from President Bush that would allow massive commercial-scale leasing of our western public lands for oil shale and tar sands developments.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, said after the vote, “The Senate today continued the legacy of keeping dirty and dangerous drilling out of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, demonstrating a commitment to our country’s natural treasures and a refusal to engage in the Big Oil giveaway that is keeping its Congressional counterpart spinning its wheels. If the House of Representatives is serious about securing critical transportation funding this year, they should follow suit and remove Big Oil’s wish list from the bill.”

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of USFWS

Drilling in the Arctic refuge will do nothing to combat the high gas prices seen today. What small amounts of oil might be generated from oil and gas leasing in the Arctic refuge would not be seen for ten years as oil companies will still need to explore, apply for drilling permits and start development.

This amendment is almost identical to an earlier amendment introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) that was ruled “non germane” by the Senate Finance Committee, and an amendment offered by Sen. Hoeven (R-ND) that was voted down last week.

Learn more:

Read about the reckless “drill everywhere” bill passed by the House of Representative last month.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of USFWS

BREAKING: The House of Representatives today voted to open the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and along almost every acre of our coastline including off the East Coast, West Coast, the protected eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Bristol Bay to oil drilling all under the guise of funding this year’s transportation bill.

The funding issue is a scam. Even the most generous revenue estimates from this reckless expansion of drilling will not be enough to fund proposed transportation projects in the bill. In addition, what small amounts of revenue might be generated from oil and gas leasing in the Arctic refuge would not be seen for ten years as oil companies will still need to explore, apply for drilling permits and start development. In short, H.R. 3408 is a fiscal gimmick that relies on unknown future revenues that are speculative at best to pay for transportation projects today.

Upon passage of the bill, Defenders’ president and CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark, said, “Today, the House approved the most radical drilling-bill we have seen in recent memory. This fiscal boondoggle would industrialize the pristine coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to iconic wildlife like polar bears and the Porcupine Caribou herd, exposing thousands of miles of coastline to chronic pollution from offshore drilling and potential oil disasters like the Deepwater Horizon.

The Arctic refuge is the largest onshore denning area for America's polar bears.

The vote comes only one day after an exploratory well exploded on Alaska’s North Slope, spewing drilling mud, leaking natural gas and requiring the intervention of a company specializing in blowout control.

“Yesterday’s exploratory well explosion on Alaska’s North Slope demonstrates once again that drilling is a dangerous business. We can’t afford to take those risks with some of our most pristine and fragile places, some of which may never recover should a drilling accident occur. The Senate should reject this funding scam and look for realistic ways to meet our transportation needs without sacrificing the health of our environment.”

Stay tuned: See how you can help stop this dangerous drilling bill from becoming a law.