Administration moves closer to opening Arctic refuge for oil

The Trump administration moved closer to opening thousands of miles within Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing, issuing a draft report that concluded the polar bears, caribou and other wildlife could safely share their untouched wilderness with oil and gas producers. The report released by the Bureau of Land Management studied the environmental impact of opening between two-thirds and all of 1.65 million acres (667,731 hectares) of coastal plain within the remote refuge for oil and gas leasing. The administration’s environmental review acknowledged that opening the coastal plains within the nation’s largest wildlife refuge would impact Alaska Native hunters, as well as caribou herds and other arctic animals and migratory birds that depend upon the refuge.The report concluded, however, that the lease sales could be carried out “while balancing biological and ecological concerns.”Official publication of Thursday’s environmental impact statement opens a period of public review, which ends in February. The report examines wildlife and habitat at risk from opening the wilderness area.For example, a declining local population of 900 polar bears uses the targeted area for raising cubs and hunting.The pounding of seismic testing for underground oil and gas reserves could drive those bears to abandon dens and the cubs in them, the report acknowledges.Bears at large would be at increased risk from oilfield spills and chemicals, traffic, and run-ins with oil and gas and construction crews, the report warns.“The potential for injury or mortality could be high when developing new oil and gas projects in polar bear habitat,” the report said.