Tag Archives: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Activist heads explode as USFWS says oil activities pose minimal risk to polar bears in AK

Posted on May 30, 2021 | Comments Off

Apparently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under Joe Biden agrees with my conclusion that oil company activities in Alaska pose minimal risk to polar bears (Crockford 2019, 2020, 2021). Although this ruling is not yet final, they have proposed that oil exploration and extraction activities on the North Slope of Alaska can proceed over the next five years.

After noting that no major offshore oil spills have ever taken place in the Alaskan portion of the Beaufort Sea (see map below) and that all spills to date have been on land with no impact on polar bears, the proposed rule in the 200+ page assessment states:

Continue reading →

Comments Off on Activist heads explode as USFWS says oil activities pose minimal risk to polar bears in AK

Posted in Advocacy, Conservation Status

Tagged Alaska, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Center for Biological Diversity, disturbance, oil exploration, polar bear, proposed ruling, USFWS, walrus, Willow project

Unfounded concern for polar bears from onshore oil exploration in Alaska

Posted on December 3, 2018 | Comments Off

Canadian biologist Andrew Derocher was called upon to promote his particularly pessimistic viewpoint on polar bear survival in a story published in the New York Times yesterday (2 December 2018: “Drilling in the Arctic: Questions for a Polar Bear Expert”). However, decades of evidence suggests that onshore oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is unlikely to harm the few female bears that come ashore in Alaska to make maternity dens.

polar bear investigates an oil platform_USFWS photo used Dec 2018

Here is my rebuttal to Derocher’s claims, all of which I’ve dealt with previously.

Comments Off on Unfounded concern for polar bears from onshore oil exploration in Alaska

Posted in Conservation Status, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Alaska, analogy, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, climate change, denning, disturbance, multiyear ice, onshore, polar bear, sea ice, soil

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska won’t protect polar bears from thick spring ice

Posted on January 25, 2015 | Comments Off

And the proposed coastal refuge won’t protect the denning areas of the majority of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, because most females den out on the sea ice, not on land.

The folks at Polar Bears International (PBI) are crowing with delight at the announcement today that US President Obama has recommended that congress approve plans to implement a proposed an Arctic wildlife refuge area that would include the Arctic coastal plain [see links below, including Obama video].

And in doing so, they mislead the public about how many polar bears use this region of coastal Alaska — as do the US Fish and Wildlife Service on their Refuge website.
Continue reading

Comments Off on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska won’t protect polar bears from thick spring ice

Posted in Advocacy, Life History, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Alaska, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, coastal, denning females, Fischbach, polar bear, protection, Refuge, Schliebe, sea ice, Southern Beaufort, thick spring ice, US Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS