On thin ice: Environmentalists say polar bears like these in northern Alaska will be in danger if the US allows sales of new drilling leases in the Chukchi Sea, set to begin Wednesday.
steve amstrup/ap/u.s. fish and wildlife service/file
Posted on 02/04/2008 2:01:37 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
On thin ice: Environmentalists say polar bears like these in northern Alaska will be in danger if the US allows sales of new drilling leases in the Chukchi Sea, set to begin Wednesday.
steve amstrup/ap/u.s. fish and wildlife service/file
Page 1 of 2
The political fight over offshore oil and gas drilling in Alaska intensifies this week.
Native Alaskans and environmentalists have filed a suit to prevent the federal government's sale of drilling leases in Alaska's Chukchi Sea. The sales, set to begin Wednesday, will allow drilling in about 30 million acres, including critical polar bear habitat, environmentalists say. A decision on whether to list polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is expected this week as well.
The potential designation has left the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative public-interest law firm, poised to challenge "any arbitrary, unjustified ESA listing" of the iconic Arctic bear, setting up a likely court battle. Property-rights advocates and business groups have been weighing in as well.
Researchers differing over the impact of climate change also affects the debate. Hundreds of prominent scientists are urging Congress to pass legislation that would curb global warming in order to protect wildlife, including polar bears. But other experts say the data used to bolster the argument for ESA listing – in particular computer modeling showing declines in polar bear populations because of climate change and other factors – are based on "questionable assumptions."
All of this is uncharted territory for government-ordered species protection, which typically is based on numbers dwindling toward extinction.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Posted on 02/03/2008 12:41:10 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Are they part of “Polar Bears for Obama?”
Are Polar bear steaks good? Regular brown bears have yummy steaks...
I have to agree: those Polar bears look yummy!
Do you ever cook these for Sunday dinner? If so, could you post some photos?
Anybody uses the word ‘habitat’ is either a wildlife biologist or an anti-petro-industry greenie.
Just don’t eat their liver, it may kill you. Too much vitamin A in it.
While they're at it, they should pass legislation that would curb world hunger, and legislation to curb the spread of AIDS, and legislation to curb the proliferation of embecilic reality tv shows.
For the sake of the environment, for the sake of the ozone layer, for the sake of low-lying islands all over the world, we should always choose Opec oil. Non-opec oil will melt the ice caps and flood Manhatten. Opec oil is good for wildlife and good for the planet.
Show that you care. Always choose Opec oil.
Polar bears ‘thriving as the Arctic warms up’
Pictures of a polar bear floating precariously on a tiny iceberg have become the defining image of global warming but may be misleading, according to a new study.
Polar bear experts said that numbers had increased due to the efforts of conservationists
A survey of the animals’ numbers in Canada’s eastern Arctic has revealed that they are thriving, not declining, because of mankind’s interference in the environment.
“There aren’t just a few more bears.
There are a hell of a lot more bears,” said Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist who has spent 20 years studying the animals.
His findings back the claims of Inuit hunters who have long claimed that they were seeing more bears.
In the Davis Strait area, a 140,000-square kilometre region, the polar bear population has grown from 850 in the mid-1980s to 2,100 today...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/09/wpolar09.xml
I had black bear for lunch today. It was yummy.
Now, how to protect the polar bears outside of screwing with their environment ~ we could slaughter a cow a day and airdrop the meat in front of them.
Bet they'd like that!
I didn’t think polar bears lived in the tundra (no food source).
They (the missing Polar Bears )are up on the top of the world,...
A joke, but also serious. If we don't eat them, then why "save "them? Even if we accept the liberal lie that they are endangered and/or will be harmed by the drilling...so what? Aren't our vital energy and national security interests more important than whether this one species survives? The Sabertooth Tiger is no more. Did Earth survive?
More on the Cuddly bears at the link to the LA Times article in post #1....
This is the cost to be arrayed against sucking all the oil out of Northern Alaska so that we don't endanger the bears while we are doing that.
Looks to be a bargain and boy will it make my cousins in the airtaxi business in Alaska rich beyond the dreams of avarice.
I wonder how they made it all the way up there from the Amazon?
Drill a hole, get the oil. This obsessing about the environment is ridiculous.
fyi
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.