Bush administration abandons long-standing protections for critical
wildlife habitat on Alaska’s North Slope - Oil leasing plan ignores
public opinion
Ignoring vocal opposition from Alaska natives, scientists, and hunters,
the Bush administration opened for oil leasing 100% of the Teshekpuk
Lake Special Area in Northwestern Alaska in mid January. The decision
repeals the last remaining protections for critical waterfowl and
big game habitat around Teshekpuk Lake. The repealed protections were
first established by Reagan administration Interior Secretary James
Watt, who is not usually noted for conservation achievements.
"It is clear that this administration cares much more about
doing favors for the oil industry than conserving wildlife for future
generations," said Betsy Goll, Sierra Club's Alaska Regional
Representative. "Even James Watt protected Teshekpuk Lake,
yet the Bush administration can't deem one acre of this magnificent
region worthy of protection."
The Teshekpuk Lake area is one of unparalled big game and waterfowl
habitat. One in four of the world's population of Pacific black
brant utilize the area. Approximately 37,000 black brant, 30% of
the entire population, utilized the Teshekpuk Lake area for molting
in 2001. Other waterfowl that rely on the area include lesser snow
geese, white-fronted geese and long-tailed duck that find critical
nesting and molting habitat in the Lake's environs. Spectacled and
Steller's eiders, both listed as "threatened species"
under the federal Endangered Species Act, use the area for nesting.
BLM's draft plan, released in June 2004, elicited more than 220,000
comments from across the nation with the vast majority opposed to
oil drilling in the area. Other federal agencies, including the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, also raised concerns.
Congress and three Secretaries of the Interior have recognized
the ecological importance of the area around Teshekpuk Lake. Former
Secretary of Interior James Watt closed an area of more than 200,000
acres north of Teshekpuk Lake to oil and gas leasing. In 1998, Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt established an oil and gas leasing plan
for the northeast Reserve, which protected much of the sensitive
habitat around Teshekpuk Lake from leasing for oil and gas facilities.
In early 2004, the Bush administration announced its intent to
alter the 1998 plan, and in June 2004 the BLM released a draft plan
that proposed opening 96% of the entire Northeast Planning Area
to oil leasing. BLM Alaska Director Henri Bisson acknowledged BLM's
plan to dismantle long-standing rules that had set core wildlife
habitats in the area north of Teshekpuk Lake off limits to drilling
since the Reagan administration.
"Despite the administration's spin, 100% of the Teshekpuk
Lake area will ultimately be open to oil leasing, and not a single
acre will be permanently dedicated to conservation. The bottom line
is that one of North America's best remaining waterfowl habitats
will be fragmented by roads, pipelines, air strips, gravel mines
and industrial sprawl," said Goll, representing the Sierra
Club.
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