Offshore oil and gas exploration in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea could face delays or even be halted after a US federal judge ordered the Department of Interior to decide within 2 weeks whether to list polar bears as an endangered species.
US District Judge Claudia Wilken said oil industry operations in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, where one fifth of all polar bears live, “could jeopardize the continued existence of the species” unless it is protected under the Endangered Species Act.
She rejected the DOI argument that waiting longer to consider the ESA listing would not pose a threat to the bears because the species is already protected under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act (OGJ, Feb. 11, 2008, p. 28). However, Wilken noted that the ESA protections “far surpass” those under the MMPA because the ESA also protects a species’ habitat.
Wilken ordered the DOI to reach a decision by May 15 that would take effect immediately, without the usual 30-day waiting period. The department had sought to wait until June 30, with a decision effective 30 days later.
In rendering her decision, Wilken said the DOI admitted ignoring a Jan. 9 deadline for a final decision, and offered “no specific facts that would justify the existing delay, much less further delay.” In listing threatened species, Wilken said, “time is of the essence.”
The DOI will evaluate its legal options, according to a spokesperson. It could ask a federal appeals court for an emergency order extending its deadline, or it could issue a decision by May 15 granting or denying protection to the polar bear, or granting it in some areas while denying it in others.
The DOI’s Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to a 2005 environmental lawsuit, proposed listing the polar bear as a threatened species in January 2007, an action that required a final decision within a year.
But in January 2008 the agency said it would need a further 30 days to study new scientific data; 4 weeks later, with that decision still pending, the DOI’s Minerals Management Service sold $2.6 billion in oil leases covering 46,000 sq miles of the Chukchi Sea (see map, OGJ, Apr. 14, 2008, p. 43).
