Government Memo Reveals Seismic Operations in the Arctic Refuge Will Injure and Kill Polar Bears

Mother Jones reported today on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) memorandum that determined that proposed oil and gas exploration on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would injure and kill denning mother polar bears and their cubs. The coastal plain is the most important onshore denning habitat in the United States for imperiled polar bears, which are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. According to the document obtained by the journal, the Service estimated that seismic testing could result in the death or injury of approximately 15 polar bears, adversely affecting the small, declining Southern Beaufort Sea population and that efforts to mitigate these impacts would be ineffective.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, Former president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife, issued this statement:

“Oil and gas exploration on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will exponentially increase threats to Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, which are already struggling to survive. We expect the Trump administration to paper over the effects of seismic testing on imperiled polar bears in their rush to drill the Arctic Refuge. But the truth will prevail. We will see this administration in court if it attempts to authorize this egregious, illegal proposal.”