The Polar Bear SeaS - Sierra Club · The Polar Bear SeaS The Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, the Arctic...
Transcript of The Polar Bear SeaS - Sierra Club · The Polar Bear SeaS The Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, the Arctic...
The Polar Bear SeaS
The Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, the Arctic waters north of
Alaska, are known as America’s ‘Polar Bear Seas’ – and for good
reason. One of the most unique marine ecosystems in the world,
these waters are home to the entire population of U.S. polar
bears and have consequently been designated a critical habitat.
Here sea ice meets the northern edge of the continent and
animals congregate in great numbers. In addition to polar
bears, this bountiful zone is home to millions of migratory
birds, beluga whales, and endangered bowhead whales.
It has been called the “Arctic Ring of Life.” But aggressive
oil and gas industry interest in leasing these areas for
exploration and development threatens the sustainability
of this natural area and the livelihood of Alaska Native
communities.
Oil exploration and development pose serious risks to the
Polar Bear Seas.
• The intense noise of seismic exploration and drilling
is pushing marine mammals farther out to sea.
According to the National Academy of Sciences and
reports from Inupiaq subsistence hunters, drilling has
already changed the migratory patterns of endangered
bowhead whales by as much as 30 miles. At that
distance, the animals are not entering their critical
habitat and community needs cannot be met.
• Polar bears are especially vulnerable to oil spills
because they search for food in the open lands and
broken ice where spilled oil would pool.
• Ringed seals would be displaced by the effects of full-
scale, offshore exploration and development, and would
also see increasing mortality and lower birth rates.
• Pacific walrus and gray whales could be disturbed from
important feeding areas in the Chukchi Sea.
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Call or wriTe your eleCTed
rePreSenTaTiveS
This is the most important step you can take. Urge the Obama
administration to permanently protect the special places of
America’s Arctic and encourage key decision makers to support
administrative actions to save the Arctic.
Find and contact your representative: www.house.gov
Find and contact your Senators: www.senate.gov
white house: (202) 456-1111, www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
submit-questions-and-comments
department of interior: (202) 208-3100, [email protected]
Tell your FriendS, Tell The world
Ask your friends and relatives to write letters and make calls to
key decision makers to save the Arctic.
Educate your community and highlight the important role the
Obama administration plays by writing a letter to the editor of
your local newspaper. Look up your local newspaper at www.
usnpl.com and find out how you can submit a letter.
here’S how you Can helP
Chill The drillS
• Waterfowl flocks, including threatened Steller’s and
spectacled eiders, in marine waters, lagoons, sensitive
coastal wetlands, and protected area shorelines could
be devastated by spills.
• Pristine shorelines like the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge and Teshekpuk Lake would be harmed by
offshore oil spills, air pollution, noise disturbance, and
pressure to build facilities such as ports, refineries,
staging areas, airports, and pipelines.
• As onshore development spreads along Alaska’s coast,
there is an increased chance that offshore development
will be linked up, posing even greater cumulative
impacts to wildlife and people.
The offshore Arctic is suffering from the effects of climate
change at unmatched rates. The polar bear’s Arctic sea
ice habitat is melting rapidly and experts believe the
polar bear may be extinct by 2050. Any new industrial
development in these waters would only add to the effects
of climate change already causing stress for Arctic wildlife.
The Polar Bear Seas remain today some of the least
understood; scientists still lack basic information about
life in the Arctic Ocean making it impossible to gauge the
impact of the risky, aggressive drilling proposed by Big Oil
in these abundant, pristine waters.
What is known is that there is no proven way to clean up
an oil spill in this unique area. The extreme, icy conditions
of the Arctic coupled with the remoteness of the region
and the lack of nearby oil spill response capacity make
drilling too great a risk. Our last wild frontiers should be
permanently protected, not opened to drilling that will
only deepen our addiction to oil. We should be working to
make our cars cleaner and more efficient and expand our
transportation choices.
Icy Cape
BaySmith
Teshekpuk Lake
Atqasuk
Colville Ri
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Wainwright
Barrow
Nusqsut
Point Lay
Point Hope
Kaktovik
Kivalina
Noatak
DeadhorsePrudhoe
Bay
Noatak River
Canning River
Porcupine River
Cape Lisburn
Cape Thompson
Point Barrow
KasegalukLagoon
Ledyard Bay
HarrisonBay Stefansson
Sound Camden Bay Demarcation
Bay
B R O O K S R A NG
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C h u k c h i S e a
B e a u f o r t S e a
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AREA
Peard Bay
P O L A R B E A R S E A S
A R C T I C N A T I O N A L W I L D L I F E R E F U G E
N A T I O N A L P E T R O L E U M R E S E R V E — A L A S K A
ALASKA
NUMBER OF SPECIES
Species include Bowhead, Beluga and Gray Whales; Bearded, Ringed and Spotted Seals; Walrus; Polar Bears;
Proposed Important Bird Areas
1 4 8
0 50 100 miles
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