Public Comments Urge Halt to Arctic Ocean Petro-Development (click title to article - thank you)
WASHINGTON, DC, March 30, 2009 (ENS) - More than 150,000 people have asked the federal government to halt plans currently underway to open 73.4 million acres of the Arctic Ocean to oil and gas leasing – the largest block of Arctic Ocean waters yet to be offered to the oil and gas industry.
In the public comment period that closed today, thousands of people from across the country asked the Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service to call for a timeout on all industrial activity in the Arctic, until a precautionary conservation and energy plan is developed.
The comments were submitted on a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for four lease sales in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, due to take place from 2010- 2012. The Bush-era draft EIS proposes to conduct the lease sales, despite the risks to the Arctic ecosystem.
"The unique and fragile Arctic Ocean is already suffering from climate change and people across the country understand the critical need to protect it from a risky rush to drill," said David Dickson, western arctic and oceans program director for the Alaska Wilderness League.
"We hope the Obama administration will suspend all new industrial activities until a sound, science-based, comprehensive plan for America's Arctic is developed that ensures no further harm," he said....
Local Time: 9:25 AM AKDT (GMT -08)
Lat/Lon: 58.8° N 137.0° W
Temperature :: 41 °F
Conditions :: Clear
Windchill :: 36 F
Humidity :: 76%
Dew Point :: 34 F
Wind :: 7 mph from the WSW
Pressure :: 30.02 in (Rising)
Visibility :: 10.0 miles
UV :: 2 of 16
Clouds :: Clear
(Above ground level)
Elevation :: 33 feet
Arctic Ice Is Melting (click here)
The 30-year decline is accelerating, new data show.
Saturday, April 11, 2009; Page A12
MAKE NO mistake, Arctic Sea ice is melting. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the maximum extent of the winter sea ice cover for 2008-09 was the fifth-lowest on record. Underscoring their point, the agencies added, "The six lowest maximum events since satellite monitoring began in 1979 have all occurred in the past six years (2004-09)."...
