Published on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 by The Independent/UK
US Censors Arctic Scientists' Findings as it Prepares for Oil and Gas
Auction
http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3359083.ece
Reproduced @
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/22/6547/

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 frozen Chukchi Sea off Alaska, one of the
last intact habitats of the polar bear.

Scientists at the release of the censored report in Norway said there
was "huge frustration" that the US had derailed a science-based effort
to manage the race for the vast energy reserves of the Arctic.

The long-awaited assessment was meant to bring together work by
scientists in all eight Arctic nations to give an up-to-date picture
of oil and gas exploitation in the high north. In addition to that it
was supposed to give policy makers a clear set of recommendations on
how to extract safely what are thought to be up to one quarter of the
world's energy reserves.

Speaking yesterday from Tromso, one of the report's lead authors, who
asked not to be named, said: "They [the US] have blocked it. We have
no executive summary and no plain language conclusions."

Earlier this month, the Bush administration drew widespread criticism
when it said it would auction off 30 million acres of the remote
Chukchi Sea which separates Alaska from Russia on 6 February. The sale
to oil and gas companies has been rushed through before Congress can
complete efforts to protect the polar bear under the Endangered
Species Act, a move which could complicate efforts to sell its habitat
to oil majors.

The US House of Representatives held a hearing last week to
investigate the timing of the Chukchi sell off.

"Oil and gas is a sensitive subject," said the unnamed author of the
Arctic Council report, which has taken six years to compile. "And this
could be linked to activities in the Chukchi Sea between the US and
Russia where more research and assessment is needed."

A draft of the censored recommendations, seen by The Independent,
called on governments to conduct proper research on environmental
impacts before signing off new oil and gas projects in ecologically
sensitive areas such as the Chukchi.

One of the lead scientists at the Arctic Council, who again asked to
remain anonymous, said: "The key message was to be more careful. To
check more before you drill for oil and gas in the Arctic."

Comparatively little is known about the polar bear population in the
Chukchi because there hasn't been an intensive study since the
mid-1990s. The US mineral management service said it would allow
companies to "explore this intriguing frontier area" but critics,
including Senator John Kerry, have demanded a three-year delay while
the impact on polar bears can be examined.

"For a polar bear population already stressed due to massive climate
change, these activities could be the last straw," said Kassie Siegel,
the climate director at the US-based Centre for Biological Diversity.

She said the censoring of the Arctic report was typical of the actions
of the White House. "It fits a pattern of downplaying, denying, and
suppressing climate science at every turn. It's all part of the
Bush-Cheney strategy of handing out as many fossil fuel entitlements
as quickly as they can in their final months in office."

As climate change melts more of the north polar ice cap and global
demand for oil and gas surges there has been a frantic scramble for
the Arctic's vast energy wealth. The combination of increased access
and prices has seen Russia, Norway, Denmark and Canada step up claims
to sovereignty over the North Pole, while the US waits in the wings.

The Chukchi Sea is believed to hold 15 billion barrels of recoverable
oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The receding sea ice
and record price for crude is tempting companies into Arctic oil and
gas development further out to sea with potentially disastrous
consequences. The agencies approving the Chukchi sale admit there is a
40 per cent chance of an oil spill, and that contact with spilt oil is
almost certainly fatal for polar bears.

© 2008 The Independent