WASHINGTON — Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas.
Yippie! Now before we get all excited, lets here what the Polar Bear Huggers say:
Environmentalists said the new regulations give oil companies a blank check to harass the polar bear.
Cry me a river.
I am thinking that if a Polar Bear sees a big ship in the water, it will go around it. I haven't heard of any reports of Polar Bears running in to ships, or Oil Platforms....
This article was definitely written by a Polar Bear lover or a tree hugger.
"Now, three weeks later, Interior issues a rule under the act that we view as a blank check to harass the polar bear in the Chukchi Sea," said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. He added that his group believes the new regulations are illegal.
Exploring in the Chukchi Sea's 29.7 million acres will require as many as five drill ships, one or two icebreakers, a barge, a tug and two helicopter flights per day, according to the government. Oil companies will also be making hundred of miles of ice roads and trails along the coastline.
Oh my, wow, 5 boats, 1 or 2 ice breakers, a barge a tug boat and a helicopter (which explain how a Helicopter will bother the bears...Unless bears fly now and no one told me) Ice roads, trails...Oh no...I guess they will need some Polar Bear Crossing signs to go along with all that.
"We are poorly equipped to address those risks and challenges," said Steven Amstrup, one of the foremost experts on polar bears and a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center. "To assess what the impacts are going to be, we should know more about the bears."
Last year, the Marine Mammal Oversight Commission, an independent government oversight agency, told the Fish and Wildlife Service it lacked the information to conclude that exploration will not affect the bear population.
The seven companies will be required to map out the locations of polar bear dens, train their employees about the bears' habits and take other measures to minimize clashes with them. In exchange, the companies are legally protected if their operations unintentionally harm the bears. Any bear deaths would still warrant an investigation and could result in penalty under the law.
So, now in addition to the Sexual Haresment Training, Driving an Ice Breaker 101 they will need to take Polar Bear 101.
Here is a sample of what that might look like:
Polar Bear:
Big White Bear, with Big Paw and Teeth
It can kill you
And eat you
Avoid them
Just incase you are still worried about the precious Polar Bear, Oil Companies were allowed to explore the same area from 1991 through 1996, and the Beaufort Sea since 1993 with NO effect on the polar bear populations - except that there are more of them. Oh and of the 25,000 Polar Bears only 2,000 live in that area. ONLY 2,000 of them!
There is also no evidence of a polar bear being killed by oil and gas since 1993, and if that doesn't five you enough comfort...
Since 1960, when the hunt for oil and gas began in Alaska, only two fatalities of polar bears have been linked to oil and gas activities in the state, the service said.
This is the LAST SENTENCE IN THE ARTICLE.
I am sure this won't be the last we hear from the Environmentalist....Sphere: Related Content
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