Bears and whales

Bunz · Apr 3, 2008

Here is an update to this. Democratic lawmakers were slamming Sec. Kempthorn when he wasnt even there to listen at the hearing. Either way, Ill cut and paste below.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/363330.html
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne got a scolding in absentia Wednesday from a Senate Committee seeking to find out why the agency continues to delay its decision on whether to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Kempthorne, summoned in front of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, refused to testify in front of the panel and instead sent a letter.

Since the department has been sued by conservation groups over its delays, it would be inappropriate for him to show up until he's made a decision, Kempthorne said in his letter.

But that was not enough for the committee's chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who said she was "disappointed" with Kempthorne's behavior, especially since he had been a member of the panel while in the Senate.

"The Bush administration is violating the law, and that is why we're here today," Boxer said.

The hearing went forward as planned, dominated by environmental groups that called on Congress to find ways to slow greenhouse gas emissions.

"The polar bear already is skating on thin ice," said Douglas Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation.

Bunz · Apr 9, 2008

Further News on this issue.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/369734.html

I am against offshore drilling in the area concerned. This is in the richest fishing grounds in the world. Watch the show "deadliest catch" and the special "cowboys of the sea" both on the discovery channel family to see the region and the bounty it provides.

Copy and paste below:

By MARY PEMBERTON
The Associated Press

Published: April 8th, 2008 04:39 PM
Last Modified: April 8th, 2008 04:48 PM

The Bush administration took a first step Tuesday toward allowing oil and gas leasing in an area of the Bering Sea considered important for the recovery of the world's most endangered whale.

The administration proposal opening up 5.6 million acres off the Alaska coast to energy development was published in the Federal Register by the Minerals Management Service. The area, which had been protected from drilling since 1990, is north of the Aleutian Islands near Bristol Bay. The administration lifted the ban last year.

Under the leasing proposal, the North Aleutian Basin lease sale would be held in 2011. Exploratory drilling could begin the next year.

The publication of the proposal marks the start of the process, which will involve a public comment period and months of gathering information for an environmental impact statement, said Robin Cacy, an MMS spokeswoman in Anchorage.

"No decisions have been made on the sale. This is just the beginning," she said.

The issuing of the proposal came on the same day that the National Marine Fisheries Service published its final decision reaffirming portions of the lease area as critical habitat for the North Pacific right whale.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which sued to get the federal government in 2006 to designate critical habitat for the whales, is suing to shut down the Bering Sea lease sale.

The problem, according to the center, is that more than half of the proposed lease sale area is designated critical habitat for the North Pacific right whale - long believed to be on certain road to extinction. That gloomy scenario has brightened somewhat with a surprising number of right whales found recently in the Bering Sea.

Center spokesman Brendan Cummings said allowing drilling in the critical habitat is a bad omen for other endangered animals.

"It would completely eviscerate the protections that critical habitat are supposed to provide," he said. "If there is actual development - tanker traffic, drilling noise, industrial disturbance - it will turn an area that is relatively pristine into an industrial zone. The whale's grip on existence is so tenuous as it is that this will likely push it over the edge toward extinction."

Whale experts say there could be fewer than 50 North Pacific right whales in the eastern North Pacific and perhaps a couple hundred on the Russian side. The large whales once ranged from California to Alaska and across the North Pacific to Russia and Japan. However, commercial whaling almost wiped them out.

Cacy said MMS is collaborating with the National Marine Fisheries Service on a $5 million study of the whales. Their distribution, numbers and habitat will be studied over a more than three-year period - enough time the agency says to collect environmental data on animals that could be affected by offshore drilling.

"We are going to be striving to get the best scientific information available," she said.

Bristol Bay commercial fishermen also oppose drilling there.

The bay, which was put off limits to drilling after the devastating 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, has huge annual catches of salmon, cod, king crab and herring.

Rhodri · May 12, 2008

Re: ...

WileE said:
If one wanted to start a crusade against maltreatment of wildlife, how about taking on American pigeon hobbyists and competition breeders who slaughter tens of thousands of falcons and hawks each year because they prey on their birds. But no, that wouldn't work here because the pigeon people are a loosely organized federation of individuals, and it's not a hot-button political issue for left-leaning news media. On the other hand, a monolithic entity like "The Navy". Yeah, now there's something a man can sink his teeth into!

Stray cats and songbirds is another...

University of Wisconsin ornithologist, Dr. Santley Temple estimates that 20-150 million songbirds are killed each year by rural cats in Wisconsin alone.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/cats.htm

Bunz · May 14, 2008

I am unsure what the full implications are here. But this is not a good thing for the Alaska and American economy at this point. Disappointing this has happened as far as Im concerned. Not sure there was much choice considering the political pressure, but the science surrounding this listing is not the best it can be. Way more study needs to be done.

http://www.adn.com/news/environment/story/405693.html

Polar bear listed as threatened species

Erika Bolstad
| ebolstad@adn.com

Published: May 14th, 2008 10:38 AM
Last Modified: May 14th, 2008 10:42 AM

WASHINGTON -- Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced Wednesday that the agency will list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. But there are strings attached: an administrative letter that will have conditions to "keep from harming the economy."

Kempthorne's decision is his first Endangered Species Act listing since taking office in 2006. Conservation groups petitioned the agency for the designation, which would be the first for an animal that is losing its habitat to global warming.

Government scientists predicted in September that shrinking sea ice will leave only a remnant surviving population of the world's polar bears in the islands of the Canadian Arctic by mid-century. The U.S. Geological Survey study, done as part of the assessment for listing the bears, found that two-thirds of the world's polar bears will have disappeared. That includes those along the coasts of Alaska and Russia.

Last week, a Canadian scientific panel recommended that the polar bear remain a "special concern species," rather than elevate it to the more drastic designations of threatened or endangered.

The committee chose not to consider climate change effects in its population projections, though it expressed "considerable concern" about the bears' future. U.S. law does not provide for the lesser "special concern" option.

Prodded by courts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began studying a possible listing in December 2006. But the Interior Department failed to make a decision by a January 2008 deadline, and two weeks ago, a federal court in California ordered the Interior Department to issue its decision by Thursday.

Scientists think there are 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears in the world. One-fifth or so live in Alaska and nearby on the coast of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

The bears are considered marine mammals because they depend on sea ice for hunting their prey: seals breathing through holes or along the edges of the ice.

Polar bears have been known to live as long as 30 years, which means that today's young bears may be part of the last generation in Alaska.

While older bears will probably survive -- if not thrive -- scientists expect to see cubs and young adults die off and reproduction rates decline. Already, studies have reported shrinking weight and rising mortality of cubs. There have also been reports of polar bears drowning.

Rhodri · May 14, 2008

Bunz said:
I am unsure what the full implications are here. But this is not a good thing for the Alaska and American economy at this point. Disappointing this has happened as far as Im concerned. Not sure there was much choice considering the political pressure, but the science surrounding this listing is not the best it can be. Way more study needs to be done.

http://www.adn.com/news/environment/story/405693.html

Interesting how timley your post is...just today...http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-polar15-2008may15,0,1220040.story

Bunz · May 14, 2008

Rhodri said:
Interesting how timley your post is...just today...http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-polar15-2008may15,0,1220040.story

Im not surprised, it did happen today. It has been covered widely for quite awhile in local Alaskan newspapers. The one I quoted was the Anchorage Daily News.
Thankfully, it doesnt jepordize the Chukchi Sea offshore development at this point. There are other legal actions being taken to attempt to block it. This is kind of a tough issue for me personally. America needs to develop more domestic energy. But I am also concerned about the environment.

Its somewhat of a half-a$$ed measure to appease the maximum number of people.

Here We Go · May 15, 2008

Face it Planet Earth! Human beings are the endangered species. We are in the process of destroying ourselves due to greed, hate and ignorance.

Sodom and Gomorra (sp?) ain't got nuthin' on what's happening here and now.

Mare Tranquillity · May 15, 2008

palerider said:
Are you aware that the earliest polar bear fossils were found in an area that is not considered to be an arctic environment, and that polar bears flourished during the medieval warm period.

Polar bears are not endangered, nor are they threatened. They are simply the latest poster child being used by the left to pull the heart strings of the gullible.

Interesting also, that you would place the life of a whale above national security.

It's true that polar bears used to be far more widespread in their range. According to naturalist Farley Mowat they were called "water bears" orginally when the Europeans first came to the New World. They are endangered now however because of their range being so reduced and because of polychlorinated biphenyls poisoning them. The melting of the arctic ice isn't killing them per se, it's that having no ice takes away their habitat and they have no place else to go since humans are everywhere. Polar bears are one of the few predators who see people as a natural food source so we can't have them running around everywhere like wolves or even cougars.

Mare Tranquillity · May 15, 2008