As the US government invites tenders for oil and gas leases in the Chukchi Sea, just days before a ruling on whether the polar bear should be added to the list of endangered species, it is facing a new scandal. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility – PEER – has released internal emails from the Interior … Read More
Arctic oil
Suit Seeks to Block Alaskan Oil Search
A coalition of environmental organizations and Inupiaq native groups filed suit in a US federal court in Anchorage yesterday to force the Interior Department to do a new analysis of the environmental consequences of oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea, off northwestern Alaska. The groups hope to stop plans to develop 29 million … Read More
North Slope Still Holds Billions of Barrels of Oil (but watch out ANWR)
Oil and natural gas production at Alaska’s North Slope may have been declining since 1988 but the region holds promise if energy prices stay high and Congress opens key areas to exploration, the U.S. Energy Department is arguing. The North Slope could yield up to 36 billion barrels of oil and 137 trillion cubic feet … Read More
US Censors Arctic Report
The United States has blocked the release of a landmark assessment of oil and gas activity in the Arctic as it prepares to sell off exploration licences for the Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Scientists at the release of the censored Arctic Council report in Norway said there was “huge frustration” that the US had derailed … Read More
US Government: “Drilling Won’t Hurt Polar Bears”
The directors of two Interior Department agencies said yesterday they’re confident oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska can proceed without threatening polar bears that depend on the sea ice. The officials appeared before a Congressional committee on global warming that is examining why the department is postponing a decision on whether … Read More
Bush Administration Slammed for Polar Bear Delay
Yesterday the Bush Administration delayed a decisive decision as to whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. The feeling is that political meddling and its recent rush to sell oil leases in Arctic waters are behind the delay. Federal law requires U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have made a final … Read More
Alaska: Oil Plan Threatens Polar Bears
Environment groups are coming together to protest against plans by the US government to open up a vast area of Arctic sea off Alaska for oil exploration, arguing it poses an unacceptable new threat to polar bears and walruses. The Minerals and Management Service, MMS, said it would be seeking bids for petroleum licences in … Read More
Alaska Spill May Signal New Corrosion Problems
Another day, another oil spill, this time on an Alaskan pipeline. Alaska officials are investigating the cause of a pipeline rupture on the North Slope earlier this week that they say could be a sign of more widespread corrosion problems at the state’s aging fields.
Iceland Opens Up New Arctic Oil Front
Sod the climate, let’s back to business as usual, including the Arctic oil rush. Its Iceland’s turn now. The country is going to offer companies exclusive oil and gas exploration licences in the Dreki area of the north Atlantic. The area lies to the northeast of Iceland, between it and the Arctic island of Jan … Read More
A Threat to a Way of Life
Great article in yesterday’s New York Times about the battle in the Arctic over oil and the threat to the way of life of the Inupiat. As the Times says: “The culture and traditions of the Inupiat revolve around whaling and seasonal hunting, which could be disrupted by a Prudhoe Bay-style oil development … The … Read More