Defenders of Wildlife Blog

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.

As denning polar bear mothers care for their newborn cubs, the U.S. House could pass a devastating plan to industrialize the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—the most important onshore denning grounds for these threatened animals that are struggling to survive.

This will be the most important vote on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in five years—and it will likely happen this week.

Take action now: Urge your U.S. Representative to stand up for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and oppose the terrible Transportation Bill.

Scientists say that America’s polar bears could disappear in just a few short decades. But that’s not stopping Big Oil’s allies in Congress from handing over important polar bear homes for dirty drilling. And it’s not just the Arctic Refuge that’s at stake. This bill would also open up the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

It’s a sweetheart deal for Big Oil—and a sellout of one of our most pristine natural areas that provides too little, too late for funding today’s transportation needs.

Stand up for polar bears and other wildlife—urge your U.S. Representative to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other coastal waters from Big Oil.

It’s not just our polar bears that need your voice. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of America’s most unique natural treasures, supporting a vast array of wildlife including arctic foxes, grizzly bears, muskoxen, Dall sheep, wolves and wolverines. And the coastal areas that this bill would open up to Big Oil are home to sea turtles, dolphins, and other wildlife.

Together, we can protect the Arctic Refuge—and the special wildlife that depend on it to survive.

Please take action today to urge your U.S. Representative to oppose this environmentally destructive and fiscally irresponsible bill that gives the heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and our coastal waters away to Big Oil.

Help protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of USFWS

BREAKING: Republican leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee today did the bidding of Big Oil once again and voted to open up the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the protected eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Bristol Bay to oil drilling all under the pretext of funding this year’s transportation bill.

Conservative politicians have always wanted to open the Arctic refuge to drilling for the Big Oil companies. The transportation bill and the professed need for revenue is just the latest excuse to push something they have wanted for a long time.

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 would not be seen for ten years as oil companies will still need to explore, apply for drilling permits and start development. That’s too late to pay for transportation projects starting next year.

This giveaway to Big Oil will expose millions of acres of America’s pristine land and water to dirty and dangerous oil and gas development from which they may never recover.

Jamie Clark in 2010 witnessing the devastation of BP oil disaster firsthand.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, said:

“Just in time for Valentine’s Day, House leaders in Congress have come out with a sweetheart deal for their Big Oil allies. Opening the Arctic refuge to drilling has been a long-standing priority of the backwards-looking, drill first crowd and the transportation bill is just the latest excuse to do so. The proposed revenue from this deal won’t even materialize for years, making this one of the most disingenuous refuge-drilling schemes we’ve ever seen, to say nothing of the environmental destruction it would cause.

“Instead of sacrificing some of America’s most pristine wilderness and waters for the profit of Big Oil, Congress should focus on coming up with real solutions to fund the transportation projects that will decrease our addiction to oil and keep our country moving.”

Learn more:

Take Action!  Ask your representative to oppose this bill and protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the wildlife that call it home.

Read more about how Defenders is working to protect America’s Arctic from the dangers of dirty oil and gas drilling.

Isolated from other beluga populations, Cook Inlet beluga whales are particularly vulnerable to population loss.

January brought some disappointing news for Cook Inlet belugas when scientists from NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center announced the 2011 estimate for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale population. The estimate numbered only 284 animals, almost 20 percent lower than last year’s estimate of 340 whales. The number is the second-lowest since NOAA’s surveys began in 1993; the lowest was in 2005, when the estimate was 278 whales.

Cook Inlet belugas represent one of Alaska’s five beluga populations. Separated from the others by the Alaska Peninsula, the geographic barrier makes the Cook Inlet belugas genetically distinct from the state’s other beluga whales, and therefore particularly vulnerable to population loss. The whale was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2008,  and last April, the Obama administration designated critical habitat for the species. But despite these protections, the Cook Inlet population has failed to recover, and a 20 percent loss of the population could be a devastating blow.

The low numbers are alarming. And since these whales live in one of the most populated–and fastest growing–regions in Alaska, survival won’t get any easier.

Scientists aren’t convinced the low estimate is entirely accurate. The count is taken from a small airplane that flies above the inlet, with live sightings compared to video footage taken at the same time. Different sighting or survey conditions, weather, or changes in beluga behavior or distribution from year to year can affect the survey results.

Defenders' Karla Dutton serves on the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Recovery Team

Still, the low numbers are alarming. And since these whales live in one of the most populated–and fastest growing–regions in Alaska, survival won’t get any easier. Defenders is committed to helping Cook Inlet beluga whales recover. We garnered record support for the whale’s endangered listing and critical habitat designation, and Alaska director Karla Dutton currently serves on the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale Recovery Team for the National Marine Fisheries Service, working on a recovery plan for this unique “canary of the sea.”

You can help Cook Inlet beluga whales too! Click here for more information on how to become a trained citizen scientist for the Anchorage Coastal Beluga Survey.

They may have made the trek from the North Pole this year safe and sound, but how will Santa’s reindeer fare in a warming planet? Hear about the challenges that face Rudolph and the rest of the crew as the climate continues to change from Defenders’ board member Jeff Corwin.

Sadly, climate change isn’t the only threat facing caribou today. Members of Congress are again ramping up efforts to drill for oil in the birthplace of Santa’s reindeer, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain. Such a move would destroy the pristine nature of the coastal plain forever, and make life even harder for animals like the Porcupine caribou that are already suffering the effects of a warming world.

You can make a difference  - contact your member of Congress and tell them to keep drilling OUT of the Arctic National Wildlife refuge today.

America's Arctic Ocean provides vital habitat for Alaska's disappearing polar bear populations.

WASHINGTON – In the latest in a series of reckless decisions about America’s Arctic Ocean, the Obama administration on December 16 gave Royal Dutch Shell the green light to drill in the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea beginning next summer – despite the fact that there is no proven way to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic’s extreme conditions and there is significant dearth of scientific information, making it impossible to understand the impacts of Shell’s activities.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced conditional approval of Shell’s plan to drill six exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea in 2012 and 2013. This decision follows on the heels of the Obama administration’s controversial approval of exploratory drilling in the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea, also beginning in the summer of 2012. However, before Shell can actually begin drilling the administration still must approve a series of permits – including a final APD or “application for permit to drill.”

The Arctic Ocean is prone to hurricane-force storms, 20-foot swells, pervasive sea ice, frigid temperatures and months-long darkness.  There is no proven way to clean up an oil spill in these extreme conditions. What’s more, the Arctic has extremely limited infrastructure to provide the support and equipment needed for a spill. Administration officials themselves have expressed concerns about spill response in the Arctic. Admiral Robert Papp, the top officer at the U.S. Coast Guard, recently told Congress that if the Deepwater Horizon disaster was “to happen off the North Slope of Alaska, we’d have nothing. We’re starting from ground zero today.”

“The administration needs a realistic oil spill response and recovery plan before exposing this unique region with its fragile wildlife to an oil disaster we are unlikely to be able to control.”

The last public spill drill in the Arctic – that tested booms and skimmers and other conventional methods of oil spill cleanup in partial sea ice conditions in 2000 – was deemed a failure.

In addition, scientists, courts, communities, and, most recently, the U.S. Geological Survey, have identified basic missing scientific information that makes it impossible to fully and fairly evaluate Shell’s plans.

Since the BP Gulf tragedy in 2010, the federal government instituted a capping and containment requirement for well blowouts that requires containment be in place within 15 days.  Shell has not built or tested under Arctic conditions such a structure.

The Arctic's Chukchi Sea, courtesy USFWS

Alaska Native communities have existed in the Arctic for thousands of years, alongside myriad species of wildlife including polar bears, bowhead whales, walrus, ice seals and hundreds of species of birds. An oil spill in these Arctic waters would destroy vital habitat for this wildlife as well as the subsistence lifestyle that sustains the Inupiat people of Alaska’s Arctic coast.

Defenders’ president and CEO Jamie Rappaport Clark said, “America’s Arctic Ocean is a pristine and fragile environment. Its importance to the survival of polar bears, bowhead whales and other marine life is too great to hand over to Big Oil given the inadequate assurances of safety. The administration needs a realistic oil spill response and recovery plan before exposing this unique region with its fragile wildlife to an oil disaster we are unlikely to be able to control.”

Read the full release and see what other groups are saying about the rubber stamped approval.