Senate Hearing
In today’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
hearing
on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s now-illegal delay in ruling whether
polar bears are an endangered species, Sen. Boxer (D-Calif.) sharply
rebuked the FWS director Dale Hall. She noted
that the Alaska field office sent a recommended decision to Hall on
December 14th of last year. Hall refused to discuss the recommendation,
saying it would be “inappropriate” to discuss internal deliberations.
Hall gave as his only reason for the delay past the January 8 deadline
the need to present a “high-quality” decision that responds in full to
the voluminous public comments received. He stated that there was no
significant scientific uncertainty in the endangerment posed by global
warming to polar bears, the only reason for delay the Endangered Species
Act permits. Under repeated questioning from Sens. Boxer and Lautenberg
(D-N.J.), Hall said he wanted to present a decision, if possible, by
February 6th.
Hall noted that in many ways the Marine Mammals Protection Act provides
stronger protection than the Endangered Species Act for polar bears even
if a finding of endangerment were made – a claim criticized by Andrew
Wetzler of NRDC, who noted that the
MMPA does nothing to protect critical habitat,
the matter which would affect the planned sale of drilling rights in the
Chukchi Sea.
MMS Speaks
On that front, Ben Gemen reports for E&E
News that Minerals
Managment Service director Randall Luthi said any delay of the scheduled
February 6 sale of Chukchi Sea leases would prevent any oil-and-gas
exploration in 2008. However, he also stated that the agency position is
that:
there is no need for a delay, regardless of what
FWS decides. He said that even in the
absence of a listing, energy development is accompanied by several
layers of environmental review and safeguards, including collaboration
with FWS and the National Marine Fisheries
Service.
Kerry Moves to Block
Meanwhile, Sen. Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced legislation
yesterday that would
block lease sales in the Arctic until Endangered Species Act decisions
are made on the polar bear and its critical habitat, mirroring Rep.
Markey’s (D-Mass.) proposed
legislation
in the House.
Internal Emails Show MMS Staff Outcry
Finally, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility has released
over the past week communications from MMS
scientists pleading
with the political appointees to delay the lease sale (contrary to
Luthi’s January 17th
testimony)
and DOI
directives forbidding
MMS scientists to consider the possible threat
of invasive species from opening the seas to drilling.
