Polar bear overseer: few tools to stop melting ice

Polar bear policy in America can be summed up succinctly: The iconic bears are threatened with extinction, and so far nothing much is being done.

Two years after they were listed under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has taken no major action in response to their principal threat, the loss of sea ice habitat due to climate change.

Federal officials have declared that the Endangered Species Act will not be used in the attempt to regulate greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming and melting ice in the Arctic Ocean.

That leaves Rosa Meehan, the Fish and Wildlife Service marine mammals manager in Alaska, with few tools to protect the great bears of the Arctic. She hangs on to the hope that the scientists are wrong about the bears' future.

"Our crystal ball is not perfect," Meehan said last week.

She spoke between public hearings on whether the federal government should designate critical habitat for polar bears. Her agency has proposed designating 187,166 square miles of U.S. territory — 95 percent of it in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas — as polar bear critical habitat.

And that has drawn objections from the energy industry and other business interests. It would mean, for example, that before granting permits for offshore drilling, federal agencies would have to review whether the action would adversely modify the habitat.

More than one person has asked Meehan whether designating critical habitat — which, after all, would also be subject to warming — wouldn't be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

"I'm one of the people who really hopes, you know, hopefully we didn't get this completely right," she said. "Maybe bears will be able to hang on. And if they are, then we want to make sure we give them as easy a chance as possible to hang on in a marginal environment. And so that means addressing all the other potential effects on bears."

Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, under threat of lawsuits, reluctantly listed polar bears in May 2008. He said the alarming loss in recent decades of summer sea ice in the Arctic, and climate models indicating the trend will continue, forced the decision.

The announcement came eight months after summer sea ice levels melted to their lowest recorded level ever: 1.65 million square miles, or nearly 40 percent below average since satellite monitoring began in 1979.

Along with the listing, Kempthorne created a "special rule" stating that the Endangered Species Act would not be used to set climate policy or limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The group that petitioned to list polar bears, the Center for Biological Diversity, calls the Kempthorne rule illegal and has sued to overturn it.

"The service itself has determined that loss of sea ice, which is a direct result of human-induced climate change, is the primary threat to polar bears' survival," said Alaska director Rebecca Noblin. "It defies logic to omit from consideration the single most important factor in listing the polar bear in the first place."

Alaskans on the other side of the issue are bewildered over why the agency is bothering to designate critical habitat for polar bears. The proposal covers an area larger than California.

Richard Glenn of Barrow, a geologist and vice president of Arctic Slope Regional Corp., told federal officials there's a breach in logic by creating regulatory hardships for Alaska companies while providing so little additional benefit for polar bears.

"If the creation of critical habitat is not going to result in any additional protection for the polar bear, then why create it?" he asked. People in Barrow, he said, already feel the effects of living near endangered species.Portman.

Meehan said she's playing the cards she's dealt. The Fish and Wildlife Service, she said, will do all it can to ensure polar bear survival. The agency's models indicate that if summer sea ice disappears in the Arctic Ocean, a remnant of polar bears could survive in the Canadian Arctic. Maybe there will be a global addressing of greenhouse gases, Meehan said.

"We'll have a place for bears to come back to," she said.

The threatened bears, she said, are important to public understanding.

"They clearly underscore the impacts of changes, and it's something people can relate to. That's a really important conservation contribution that this whole situation gives.

Source:
Google News, "Polar bear overseer: few tools to stop melting ice", accessed June 28, 2010

From the Inbox: Help Sea Turtles TODAY!

		Sea Turtles in the Frying Pan Oiled sea turtles like just this one may have been burned alive last week during attempts to contain the current Gulf oil disaster. Send an email. Tell U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and officials in the Obama administration that you oppose their 5-year offshore leasing plan that would encourage even MORE dangerous drilling off our coasts. Dear Friend, It’s a horrifying story: Last week, a Gulf ship captain reported seeing sea turtles burned alive in an attempt to keep oil off the Gulf coast. [2] BP – the company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon blowout and subsequent Gulf oil disaster – was trying to contain and prevent the oil from reaching coastal beaches and marshes by burning it at sea. Sadly, no one told the sea turtles – and it now appears that the lives of some threatened and endangered sea turtles (already hurt by the oil) may have been lost. Areas of oiled ocean are now being surveyed for sea turtles before burning, but that is only a stopgap measure. Help prevent the next drilling disaster. Tell the Obama administration that you oppose their 5-year offshore leasing proposal – a proposal that would encourage more dangerous drilling off the coasts of Florida, Alaska, North Carolina and other Gulf and Atlantic coastal states. The deadline for public comments is today (June 30th), soplease take action right now. So far, at least 429 threatened and endangered sea turtles have been confirmed dead since oil first began spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout. . However, many more sea turtles have likely been lost from the oil spill but not found… and many more would certainly die when baby turtles begin to hatch in the coming weeks. That is why agencies are collecting the eggs from the nests they know of for transfer to Atlantic Florida beaches that are free from oil. Sea turtles will die from ingesting too much oil. And like us, they can drown. Sea turtles need to surface to breathe, which is hard to do when the ocean’s surface is coated with toxic oil. The survival of sea turtles is precarious, and the human-caused loss of even one turtle is too much. We need to act now to help protect the beaches of North Carolina (another important nesting ground for sea turtles) and other states where dolphins, whales and birds rely on healthy coastal ecosystems to survive. Send your message now, and let the Obama administration know that you oppose dangerous new offshore drilling. But preventing new offshore drilling isn’t just about protecting threatened and endangered sea turtles. As the Gulf oil disaster clearly demonstrates, entire economies are at risk. Clean-up workers can become sick. And an entire marine and coastal wildlife system is at risk of being lost to Big Oil’s hubris. To send a loud, clear message to the Obama administration, we need just 800 more people from Alabama to take action before tomorrow, so please send your message right away, and then forward this message and/or share this action on Facebook and Twitter. For the Wild Ones, Jamie Rappaport ClarkExecutive Vice President Defenders of Wildlife P.S. As a former head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a career biologist and a mother, I can’t stress enough how important it is that we prevent more dangerous drilling off our coasts and that you send your message today.

Greenland wins back right to kill humpback whales

Greenland has won back the right to hunt humpback whales for the first time in a quarter-century after it threatened to leave the world's top whaling body if other nations reject its ancestral traditions.

"We cannot wait any longer," Ane Hansen, Greenland's Minister for Fisheries, Hunting and Agriculture, said just before the consensus vote by the 88 nations of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Morocco on Friday.

"Greenlanders are whale eaters but our subsistence needs have been cut down and cut down," Hansen said.

Greenland's Inuit hunted humpbacks for 4,000 years until Europeans killing the giant mammals for their oil pushed the animals to the brink of extinction in the last century.

The Inuit now hunt limited numbers of fin and bowhead whales for local consumption under controlled licenses. The government says the meat is sold in local open air markets and the proceeds distributed among the boat crews.

It says the revenue is vital to the population of the world's biggest island, which has few sources of income besides seafood exports and a subsidy from former colonizer Denmark and is blanketed in ice for most of the year.

Some IWC delegates said the argument that Greenlanders needs to hunt whales to survive was spurious as they enjoy one of the highest average household incomes in the world.

Whaling opponents say Greenland's whale hunt is big business, the meat sold in supermarkets for ten times the price in traditional markets and whale steaks served in luxury hotels.

"Greenland must withdraw its humpback quota request until it can demonstrate that all currently available whale meat is used to meet genuine subsistence needs," the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said in a statement before the vote.

IWC scientists say that catching 9 humpback whales per year, as Greenland was allowed, would not affect a population that has recovered since a moratorium on commercial whaling began in 1986.

But some Latin American states objected to Greenland's request, saying their income from whale watching for tourists would suffer if fewer humpbacks return to their waters after their annual Arctic migration.

They also want pro-whaling nations to stop blocking a plan for a whaling-free zone in the south Atlantic.

Greenland's request went through thanks to a last-minute compromise proposal by the European Union to curb Greenland's quota for hunting fin whales.

Sources:
Reuters, "Greenland wins back right to kill humpback whales", accessed June 28, 2010

From the Inbox: Help save sea turtles

		Take Action to Stop More Drilling Disasters The Obama administration has proposed a 5-year plan for offshore oil and gas drilling that would open up huge swaths of our coasts to dangerous drilling – risking the lives of countless sea turtles, endangered whales, sea birds, polar bears and other wildlife. Take action! Tell Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Obama administration that you oppose dangerous new offshore drilling off our coasts. Help us send 60,000 messages by Wednesday's deadline for public comments. Take action now and forward this message to at least 3 friends. Dear Friend, At a time when millions of gallons of oil are still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, wreaking havoc on sea turtles, brown pelicans, sperm whales and irreplaceable coastal and marine ecosystems, it seems inconceivable that the Obama administration would consider more dirty, dangerous offshore drilling. Yet, incredibly, that’s exactly what’s happening. Take a stand for imperiled sea turtles and other marine wildlife. Urge the Obama administration to reject calls for offshore drilling off the coasts of Florida, Alaska, Virginia, North Carolina and other coastal states. As of yesterday, more than 1,000 birds, 400 sea turtles and 40 marine mammals are already confirmed dead due to the Gulf oil disaster. Far more birds, sea turtles, whales, dolphins and other wildlife are likely dead or dying as a result of the ongoing oil leak in the Gulf. The scale of this ecological catastrophe is massive. Yet drilling proponents persist in their calls to industrialize our coasts and sacrifice our marine wildlife at the altar of Big Oil’s profit margins. The Obama administration had announced a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling, temporarily blocked planned drilling in the fragile Chukchi Sea and deployed thousands of federal workers to respond to the disaster in Gulf. On Tuesday, however, a federal judge in Houston – with a history of significant financial investment in oil companies drilling the Gulf -- overturned the six-month ban on deepwater offshore drilling. The Obama administration plans to appeal the ruling and take administrative action to uphold the ban. Ironically, the administration itself is also considering a 5-year leasing plan for offshore drilling that would approve new oil and gas drilling along the Mid-Atlantic and South-Atlantic coasts, on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and in the Arctic Ocean – risking the lives of countless sea turtles, endangered whales, sea birds, polar bears and other wildlife. Speak out for our coastal wildlife and communities. Send your comments to the Obama Administration now. In the face of the tragedy in the Gulf, we must make our voices heard. All comments are due by Wednesday (June 30th), so please take action now, forward this message and help us reach our 60,000-message goal. With Gratitude, Richard Charter Senior Policy Advisor, Marine Programs Defenders of Wildlife Defending Wildlife Tomorrow, Defenders of Wildlife will join groups from across America, participating in Hands Across the Sand events to oppose dangerous new drilling. To find an event near you, visit http://www.handsacrossthesand.com/organize-join-a-beach/ This week, Defenders of Wildlife’s legal team moved to stop Big Oil’s attempt to block a temporary moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling, opposing the oil industry in federal court in Houston. Incredibly, a judge who has had significant financial ties to the oil industry ruled to lift the ban. However, the Obama administration plans to appeal the decision – a move supported by Defenders. So far, Defenders has mobilized more than 61,000 caring people like you in support of additional protections for loggerhead sea turtles. Loggerheads – already in trouble before the Gulf oil disaster – are particularly vulnerable to oil and can drown or be poisoned when they become oiled. Defenders has also mobilized to prevent threatened and endangered sea turtles from being burned to death as part of the controlled oil burns occurring in the desperate attempt to reduce oil from the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf. Last week, more than 31,000 Defenders supporters urged Senate Democrats to pass comprehensive legislation to reduce America’s dependence on fossil fuels and address the impacts of climate change without opening additional coastal areas to offshore drilling.

Oil exploration stokes fears for endangered whale

A whale population once thought extinct faces a fresh challenge to its survival as oil companies step up exploration efforts in its main feeding ground off Siberia, delegates to the world's top whaling body said.

Scientists say between 130 and 160 Western grey whales exist today compared to tens of thousands before the era of industrial whaling. The mothers rely on a strip of shallow water to the east of Russia's Sakhalin island (see map) to teach their calves to feed.

Russian oil major Rosneft plans seismic surveys there in coming months, said Justin Cooke of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a member of the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) Scientific Committee.

The surveys involve blasting sound at the sea bed to map its geology and have grown in number since the end of the Cold War brought Western offshore foraging technology to the area.

"We might lose a year's production of calves and even one year's loss is potentially serious in terms of survival of the population," Cooke said at the IWC's annual meeting in Morocco.

Cooke said grey whales had left the feeding area in 2008 when pile driving began for an Exxon Mobil oil facility, although there was no definite proof of cause and effect.

A spokesman for Rosneft said the work of energy companies in Sakhalin is approved by Russia's Natural Resources Ministry.

"They make sure our work does not disturb the whales or any other marine life in the area. As long as we have their permission, we will continue," the spokesman said.

He said oil and gas companies are the main financial contributors to research on grey whales and that organizations can afford to conduct their research thanks to them.

Cooke said other companies including Sakhalin Energy, a unit of Russia's Gazprom, had adjusted the timing and conditions of seismic surveys to minimize disruption to whales.

The IWC scientific committee recommended that Rosneft delay until next year so it could begin its surveys before most of the whales arrive. But according to Russian officials, contract obligations make it hard for Rosneft to change its exploration timetable.

"In any case, it is not going to be good for these animals," said Russian IWC Commissioner Valentin Ilyashenko.

Little is known about the Western grey whale, and its breeding ground remains unknown. Its eastern cousin migrates further than any other whale, from Alaska to Mexico.

Some scientists thought the Western grey was extinct in the 1970s. Soviet scientists sighted some in the 1980s but the West was ignorant of their existence until the Cold War ended.

Source:
Reuters, "Oil exploration stokes fears for endangered whale", accessed June 26, 2010

From the Inbox: Conservation International e-News

	Submerse yourself in CI’s brand-new Ocean Experience Over 70% of our Earth is ocean. Explore the unseen wonders of this vast, submerged world through our new online experience. Dive among its coral reefs. Wind your way through its mangrove forests. Swim freely in its open waters. Marvel at its vibrant coasts. You’ll see some of the threats our oceans are facing — including pollution, oil drilling, overfishing and climate change — along with the innovative solutions CI is working on to protect marine ecosystems. You’ll also meet unique ocean wildlife and communities of people who — like us — depend upon the oceans for survival. People need the oceans — for a stable climate, food, oxygen and lifesaving medicines. Now the oceans need us. Dive in.
	© CI/photo by Sterling Zumbrunn The Holy Grail of Coral Reefs It’s barely a blip on most maps, but in marine conservation circles, the secluded island of Misool in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, is the Holy Grail of coral reef biodiversity. Gorgeous green sea turtles, walking sharks, butterflyfish and pygmy seahorses are just a few of the stunning marine creatures navigating through miles of corals. With more than 1,320 different reef fish and 540 hard corals, the waters here are home to more species than any other tropical reef system on the planet. Last month, CI hosted a seascapes workshop in this near-mythic destination – inviting marine biologists, species scientists, business leaders and specialists from CI offices in 10 different countries. While getting there is no easy feat – for most, it’s a full 2 1/2-day journey – when you learn what’s in the water, you’ll understand why it’s well worth it. Get all the details on this seascapes workshop from the CI marine team. A NOTE ON SEASCAPES: Enormous marine areas that extend beyond national boundaries, seascapes are a key part of CI’s ambitious plan for promoting global ocean conservation and stewardship. Raja Ampat is part of the Bird’s Head Seascape. Go here to learn more.
	© Olivier Langrand Confronting the Gulf Oil Spill The Gulf Oil spill is a tragedy — a stark reminder that our planet’s ocean and shorelines are extremely vulnerable. And it underscores the inherent challenges in taking oil, gas, minerals, fish and other commodities from the ocean for human use. There are sound reasons we rely on the ocean for these resources — fisheries are the primary protein source for more than 1 billion people worldwide, and energy alternatives are not yet available at the global scale. But too often, poor industrial practices and inadequate regulations allow devastating damage to our naturally abundant seas. Catastrophic events like the Deepwater Horizon spill attract massive attention to some of the acute dangers our oceans are facing. However, we must remember that the oceans are also under continuous assault from chronic (and equally devastating) long-term threats — including unsustainable fishing, habitat destruction, pollution, ocean acidification and climate change. While CI does not work directly in the Gulf region, we are monitoring the situation closely. We believe that as a society, we need to put in place solutions that halt the ongoing damage to our oceans, improve ocean health, and ensure people can continue to benefit from the abundant and essential goods and services the ocean provides. To that end, CI's Marine Program Master Plan is focusing on a set of global solutions to help us restore a prosperous ocean. The Gulf oil spill has demonstrated the urgent need to accelerate our efforts to put these solutions in place. Click here to read CI’s full statement on the Gulf.

Oil Spill efforts ramp up as storm eyed anxiously

The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is posing an uncertain threat to the Gulf of Mexico, even as efforts to contain the worst oil spill in U.S. history are set to ramp up.

For now, Tropical Storm Alex, which is hitting the western Caribbean with rain and high winds, is not expected to pass close to BP Plc.'s blown-out well off the Louisiana coast.

But even a miss that only generates large waves could greatly complicate clean-up efforts from Louisiana to Florida

Current official estimates suggest between 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day are leaking from the rogue well. BP collected over 24,000 barrels on Friday and about 11,640 barrels in the first half of Saturday, the company estimated.

New equipment being moved to the site of the leak in the coming week could raise the daily collection rate to 53,000 barrels a day, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is coordinating the U.S. oil spill response, said on Saturday.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar are also scheduled to review plans on Wednesday for a new containment system that could boost collection to 80,000 barrels per day, Allen said.

The ultimate solution to plugging the undersea gusher still lies in a relief well being drilled by BP. On Friday, the company said drilling is on track to intercept the blown well.

But progress could be scuttled if Alex, or a subsequent storm, comes too close to the leak site.

Allen said BP would be forced to evacuate the vessels and personnel working to contain the spill if a storm with gale-force winds, 39 miles per hour or stronger, were expected within five days at the leak site. That would once again leave the well gushing uncontrollably.

Alex was expected to make landfall at Belize by nightfall, cross land and enter the Gulf of Mexico late Sunday. Late on Saturday, Alex did make landfall in Belize and dumped showers on northern Guatemala and the Yucatan Peninsula. The storm had sustained winds of 60 miles per hour (95 km per hour) and was located about 20 miles northwest of Belize City, Belize, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The storm was expected to slow as it moved over Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula overnight, the center said. The storm appeared headed west of the massive oil spill in parts of the Gulf, but meteorologists warned that a storm's track can quickly change.

In Grand Isle, Louisiana, a tiny village jutting out into the Gulf of Mexico and a haven for commercial and recreational fishing, residents anxiously awaited updates on the storm.

"If it comes and it's somewhat severe, you might as well say goodbye to Grand Isle," said Pam Brooks, 50. "The oil will get thrown up and coat everything."

The Gulf disaster and its impact on London-based energy giant BP was on the agenda on Saturday when U.S. President Barack Obama and new British Prime Minister David Cameron held their first face-to-face meeting. (At right: ship sailing in oil infested waters near the spill site)

Shares of BP, a staple holding of many U.K. pension funds, have been savaged since the oil crisis started and fell another 6 percent to a 14-year low on Friday.

Investors are fretting about the potential costs to BP, which include but are not limited to a $20 billion compensation fund it set up under intense U.S. political pressure. BP said it has paid out $2.35 billion so far in clean-up and compensation costs related to the spill.

Obama has been highly critical of the company, even as his own poll ratings have fallen amid perceptions that his handling of the Gulf crisis has been too slow. (Left: oil washes ashore at Gulf Shores, Alabama).

Cameron and Obama "agreed that there was nothing to be gained from damaging BP as a going concern," a UK official said after the leaders met at the G8/G20 summit in Canada.

The pair also agreed that BP must meet its obligations to cap the leak, clean up the damage and meet legitimate compensation costs.

LEGAL WRANGLING, PROTESTS

The Obama administration on Friday asked a U.S. appeals court to stay a ruling from a federal judge that overturned a six-month ban on new deepwater drilling in the Gulf.

On Saturday, the state of Louisiana filed a brief opposing the administration's request. Each day the ban is in place, "millions of dollars of income are lost to the citizens of Louisiana, and by the state," the brief said.

The disaster is also taking a heavy toll on fishing, tourism and the environment. About one-third of U.S. federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico remain closed to fishing.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports a growing toll of birds, sea turtles and marine mammals, mostly dolphins, found dead or debilitated along the Gulf Coast.

In Florida on Saturday, hundreds of local residents and supporters protested the spill with a 15-minute "Hands Across the Sand" demonstration calling for a halt to U.S. oil drilling in the Gulf.

"It a sick feeling," said Cindy Nevens, resident of Navarre Beach, Florida. "There is no end in sight and we don't know if it can be stopped or if they are telling us the truth about how much oil they are collecting."

Source:
Reuters, "Oil spill efforts ramp up as storm eyed anxiously", accessed June 27, 2010