The Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Thursday its intention to designate a large portion of Alaska’s northern coast as “critical habitat” for the polar bear, which is being threatened by shrinking polar ice as a result of global warming. The designation, which must first undergo public scrutiny before becoming official, would set aside the largest critical habitat in the history of the Endangered Species Act.

 

Environmentalists were delighted by the news, while Alaskan officials were dismayed by the move, which they see as a threat to the state’s economy. Earlier this week, the Minerals Management Service approved plans for exploratory oil drilling in the polar bear’s offshore habitat in the Beaufort Sea, and it is considering a similar drilling proposal in the Chukchi Sea. 

 

Brendan Cummings, senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, noted that the designation would make it difficult to drill for oil in the same area. “The law says federal agencies cannot ‘adversely modify’ critical habitat. Hard to see how putting an oil rig in the heart of polar bear habitat does not adversely modify it,” Cummings said.

 

In An Important Step, U.S. Designates Polar Bear Critical Habitat (by Andrew Wetzler, Natural Resources Defense Council)

Critical Habitat in Alaska is Proposed for Polar Bears (by Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times)

Proposed Rules (Department of the Interior) (PDF)