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US Censors Arctic Scientists' Findings as it Prepares for Oil and Gas Auction
The United States has blocked the release of a landmark assessment of oil and gas activity in the Arctic as it prepares to sell off exploration licences for the frozen Chukchi Sea off Alaska, one of the last intact habitats of the polar bear.
Scientists at the release of the censored report in Norway said there was "huge frustration" that the US had derailed a science-based effort to manage the race for the vast energy reserves of the Arctic.
The long-awaited assessment was meant to bring together work by scientists in all eight Arctic nations to give an up-to-date picture of oil and gas exploitation in the high north. In addition to that it was supposed to give policy makers a clear set of recommendations on how to extract safely what are thought to be up to one quarter of the world's energy reserves.
Speaking yesterday from Tromso, one of the report's lead authors, who asked not to be named, said: "They [the US] have blocked it. We have no executive summary and no plain language conclusions."
Earlier this month, the Bush administration drew widespread criticism when it said it would auction off 30 million acres of the remote Chukchi Sea which separates Alaska from Russia on 6 February. The sale to oil and gas companies has been rushed through before Congress can complete efforts to protect the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act, a move which could complicate efforts to sell its habitat to oil majors.
The US House of Representatives held a hearing last week to investigate the timing of the Chukchi sell off.
"Oil and gas is a sensitive subject," said the unnamed author of the Arctic Council report, which has taken six years to compile. "And this could be linked to activities in the Chukchi Sea between the US and Russia where more research and assessment is needed."
A draft of the censored recommendations, seen by The Independent, called on governments to conduct proper research on environmental impacts before signing off new oil and gas projects in ecologically sensitive areas such as the Chukchi.
One of the lead scientists at the Arctic Council, who again asked to remain anonymous, said: "The key message was to be more careful. To check more before you drill for oil and gas in the Arctic."
Comparatively little is known about the polar bear population in the Chukchi because there hasn't been an intensive study since the mid-1990s. The US mineral management service said it would allow companies to "explore this intriguing frontier area" but critics, including Senator John Kerry, have demanded a three-year delay while the impact on polar bears can be examined.
"For a polar bear population already stressed due to massive climate change, these activities could be the last straw," said Kassie Siegel, the climate director at the US-based Centre for Biological Diversity.
She said the censoring of the Arctic report was typical of the actions of the White House. "It fits a pattern of downplaying, denying, and suppressing climate science at every turn. It's all part of the Bush-Cheney strategy of handing out as many fossil fuel entitlements as quickly as they can in their final months in office."
As climate change melts more of the north polar ice cap and global demand for oil and gas surges there has been a frantic scramble for the Arctic's vast energy wealth. The combination of increased access and prices has seen Russia, Norway, Denmark and Canada step up claims to sovereignty over the North Pole, while the US waits in the wings.
The Chukchi Sea is believed to hold 15 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The receding sea ice and record price for crude is tempting companies into Arctic oil and gas development further out to sea with potentially disastrous consequences. The agencies approving the Chukchi sale admit there is a 40 per cent chance of an oil spill, and that contact with spilt oil is almost certainly fatal for polar bears.
© 2008 The Independent
39 Comments so far
Show AllTalk about win-win. Burn the fuel to melt the ice to get more fuel to burn to melt more ice so our grandkids can choke and starve. Clever plan.
Seven years of unchecked criminal activity. Where are the Democrats??
Environmental protection was one of the things Democrats abandoned on the scrapheap of the last century, it's there, right next to the unions and the poor. But come election time don't they make a good show of it? Btw, what major US news organization had the audacity to run a story like this? Oh, my mistake.
Maybe it was that the human race was known to be a doomed species when Aesop wrote that fable, "The Goose that laid the Golden Egg." Over and over humans have proved this fable true—that it is part of our nature. Now we have reached the ultimate golden egg laying goose—the earth—and we are determine to repeat our old pattern of behavior.
ejb; Don't give them any ideas. They'll easily convince the American people of the polar bear threat to our freedoms. Which means the military-industrial-complex will get additional funding for beefing up the polar bear hunt. "Those critters are so sneaky, they blend with the snow. Al qaida musta' taught em' how to camouflage so the troops can't find em'. ha, ha, ha. What ya' think, Condi?''
wonderful.
yet another bush-made catastrofuck in the making.
can we hurry up with the hearings before bush gets EVERYONE killed?
(and before they can destroy evidence)
heckuvajob, indeed
Once again, commerce has trumped science in the realm of Dubya, Cheney, & Co. If future generations do survive the damage they mid-wifed, will they think of us in the same way we think of our ancestors who let slavery flourish?
It would seem 'natural' that a society/culture that deems nature a 'thing' to use would say it is 'human nature' to do so. It is not human nature, it is a mythology of power without eyes to see and ears to hear. Might one say it is a society stuck at what Freud referred to as the oedipal stage?
It's nothing less than rape of the environment. Get all you can while you can, even if it means murder of the planet we depend on for life.
War Crimes Tribunal for Iraq? Absolutely. And we need an Environmental Crimes Tribunal for crimes against the environment, like this one (http://www.blognow.com.au/mrpickwick/47775/3_September_1998.html). Funny, Bush and Cheney could be top of the list for both tribunals - bit like winning the Golden Globes and an Oscar I suppose.
HOLD IT! This is a bullsh*t report that is spreading rapidly through the progressive wire. I just looked at the last week of newspaper reports from Tromso, and the biggest thing in their news is about a local film festival.
If you can read Norwegian or Swedish, there is nothing at http://news.google.com/news?ned=no_no
Besides, "one of the report's lead authors, who asked not to be named" is a litmus for high BS content. 6 years of work and a lead author wishes to remain anonymous?
However, if anyone can find a definitive reference, I will gladly eat crow.
The neocons want the oil. They just killed, maimed and made refugees of 2 million Iraqis for the same reason. You can't think they'll let a cute picture of mama bear and the cubs stop them!
They want the oil for "us". Every drop in Alaska - Prudhoe, ANWR and Chuckchi is probably only good for a decade or so, but every little bit counts in Peak Oil.
Maybe the drillers can help watch and feed the bears. It won't bring back the krill, birds and seals..., but it might help a little.
Maybe they will step on the Russian bear's toe and will be slapped back.
They are about to perpretrate one of the largest man-made crimes against the environment in human history. What irks me is how oil companies and their advocate think tanks are exploiting global warming's effect in the Artic as means for reaching all that oil and gas. What shame and greed, at the expense of our delicate environment! Thanks to these a**holes the polar bear is now on the endangered species list.
The Earth needs advocacy more than ever. Because now, instead of avoiding the rape of the environment, we are consciously and purposely sanctioning it. Shame on Bush, the wimp Dems, the moronic Republicans, and all of us, for helping this happen.
We just keep up this "anything for a buck" crap. Remember, Mother Nature is coming, and boy is she pissed!
lwhunt330
"Seven years of unchecked criminal activity. Where are the Democrats?"
Answer: In bed with Bush and the Republicans. One big happy orgy.
There is no recovery from this. We didn't listen to Eisenhower. The corruption is complete. The political
machine and the financial machine have become one. The american people are no longer part of the equation. I hope and pray every day that the rest of the world does what it has to do to destroy the American economy. If the rest of the world refuses to accept US dollars and to buy our debt our entire economy will collapse. We replaced gold with oil as our fiat currency's intrinsic value commodity at the Bretton Woods conference in 1971. Great scam as long as you control the countries that actually have the oil. Economic collapse is what finally defeats every empire. The ruling elite will use the mechanisms of oppression that they have installed for this purpose (e.g. the patriot act etc) to try and hang on but hopefully sudden stresses will trigger a revolution so intense that the US will break up into small feudal states that can no longer threaten the very existance of life on this planet. The critical thing is to destroy the stranglehold Americas ruling elite have on the worlds economy. Destroy it's economy and the US dollar as a default reserve currency and you detroy Americas ability to wage wars of imperial dominance, to destabilize governments and to create poverty by controlling access to key natural resources. When you do this America can no longer create the conflicts and other injustices that it needs to maintain it's fundamentally unjust and unsound capitalist, debt based economy. When the imperial powers are gone and resourses are distributed in an equtable fashion there will finally be peace on earth, but unfortuantely not before..
Fred from Boston
SCIENTIFIC BETRAYAL
These censorships of the Arctic data are only the tip of the iceburg. Never before have Americans experienced such dangerous manipulation of essential scientific data, as used by this administration to derail vital environmental reforms, conservation, family planning-- and the list goes on. The resulting long term environmental and social damage are beyond measure, and can only worsen if not curtailed.
Despite their clandestine cloak, or environmental friendly disguise, these sellouts have been evident since Bush first was handed the presidency. They have been exposed by defectors from the EPA, health & human services, etc; and have been documented and chronicled by numerous dedicated environmental organizations including The Union of Concerned Scientists.
The gravity of these unprecedented betrayals eclipses the Monica Lewinski scandal which led to an impeachment, and pose greater dangers than Watergate which terminated a presidency. Blame falls mainly on the populace and our legislators for tolerating this reckless and arrogant occupant of the White House.
Dont worry about the Russian bears toe.We have a much more powerful thing up here in Canada that they should be wary of.A growing awareness of the fact we are not going to be beholden to the corporations that run our governments.And in the end it doesnt really matter.Our mothership Earth is doing its thing just as the Mayans have informed us.And Decemder 21 2012 is not that far off.But after the 25th of that month those that survive will live a utopian existince.Just my opinion from my research and talking to those that live on the Yucatan and elsewhere.
Fred from Boston, nice post.
The shiznit will hit the fan. Problem is the vast majority of the U.S. population doesn't care, doesn't know, or thinks Uncle Sam is gonna get us out of any catastrophe we find ourselves in. Prob is, Uncle Sam's brother is Daddy Economy who is married to Momma Corporation, and this is the family that is perpetuating the problem and making you believe their the solution! They have us hoodwinked.
Secure your property financially, so Uncle Sam can't come get it. Learn to grow your own food and provide your own energy. Commit to a family of friends who are smart enough and educated enough to know whats going on, but aren't so foolish enough to think that the cure is some kind of violent revolution or conflict. That shiznit has not worked for 6000 or more years, and its not gonna get us out of this mess either.
Ignore the enemy and secure your fortress through a large, powerful network of humans devoted to saving the life and spirit of planet earth through mutual, cooperative, just organization as compared to the current oppositional, competitve, unfair, pro-wealthy cluster(#$& we have ruling the world today.
www.oneplanetonelife.com
Robert Settgast, right on the money. America, and even most of the world have no clue what is to befall this planet in the near future.
If fishing around the world continues at its present pace, more and more species will vanish, marine ecosystems will unravel and there will be "global collapse" of all species currently fished, possibly as soon as midcentury, fisheries experts and ecologists are predicting. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/science/03fishcnd.html?bl&ex=1162616400&en=8e7132392e14b91f&ei=5087%0A
World headed for environmental disaster, the UN warns:
The destruction of 70 per cent of the natural world in 30 years, mass extinction of species, and the collapse of human society in many countries is forecast in a bleak report by 1100 scientists. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/23/1022038458561.html
Tons more of this type of warning coming from every corner of scientific thought.
We are insane. All kinds of articles like this can be found at www.oneplanetonelife.com. Man, these future environmental catastrophes are slowly becoming reality. We are quickly losing the battle. Climate change, the Amazon destruction, species extinction, soil erosion, water shortages, encroaching deserts, continental pollution and air quality, resistant viruses, peak oil, natural resource depletion, ocean systems on the verge of collapse, dead zones, nitrogen runoff, killer hurricanes, biblical tsunamis, tornadoes in NY, rising seas, nuclear weapons, rogue nations, and lies, lies, lies to cover it all up and a media that refuses to report it.
You all know what will come next...cheney will start talking about polar bear terrorists and our need to pre-emptively end their threat...shrub will cry that the polar bears hate our freedom...it will be reported that a polar bear has attacked american assets on the alaska coast...the presence of a polar bear in the area will be used as proof of this transgression...we must invade to protect the american way of life...while we're there, maybe, just maybe, we should check around for natural resources and give them freedom from the polar bears...
This should be fun.
The North Polar oilfield wil take ten years to bring online. And produce an oil supply that will last six months at present consumption rates.
That's a 20:1 input.
If you were a bookie in Vegas, would you take that bet?
fred54 from boston:
spot on!
name the issue-of-the-day: energy, economy, immigration, corruption, campaign financing, environment, whatever. what is the single slimy thread that binds the pustules together? corporate power/personhood. it's time to return to the days of limited corporate lifespans and limited corporate powers. if we act, we may still save what's left of the planet and this republic.
kevin from d.c. but formerly of boston, too.
Drilling for oil has never been proven to kill a polar bear. The crews drill only into the earth. If a polar bear is standing where they need to drill, they shoot it before someone gets hurt. That's just pre-emptive self defense.
Stupidity reigns! How long will it take for the people of the U.S. to rise up and throw the bums inside the Beltway and in the corporate offices out on their rears?
Pre-emptively nuke the polar bears! What is our oil doing under their sea ice?
I agree.
Nuke the Icebergs! Those dam things keep the poor people's heads above water!
The nerve!
Non-oil barons trying to breath and eat. They don't even have enough money to enter the consumer cycle for crying out loud. And what a fine harvest of seal and bear skins we'll release on the black market!
Simply Smashing!
Simply Marvelous!
The History Channel (I know, usually another corporate crap-hole) has been airing a documentary which speculates on what would happen...from the first minute through 10,000 years...if mankind vanished in the blink of an eye. Very interesting stuff and, in the end, heartwarming. Gives a clear view of just how vital man is to the "survival" of the planet. Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the current evolution of the species will be to suck ALL the oil from the earth, saving future "humans" (if there are any) from following the same shortsighted, suicidal path we seem to have blazed.
Anyway the documentary, though not profound, is interesting and worth a look. I think it's titled "After Man".
What was I thinking?
This is a job for Blackwater; clubbing the heads of innocent victims like seals and shooting unarmed bears is right down their alley. Besides they've had lots of practice with these techniques in Bagdad. No bid contract boys?
Sick
Sick
Sick
I heard the republican party is thrilled today. They've discovered "fire." What's next? Indoor plumbing? Auto-mo-biles?
I think Im with WTF's comment (which everyone else seems to be ignoring) about this story being planted BS. Why would the US have any sort of leverage blocking a proposal from an international body? You may note the alleged "report" was put together by scientists from the 8 arctic nations (implying that they arent a body dependant on funding or support from the US government). The fact that they don't mention the names of any of the scientists or even the mysterious organization responsible for the report is highly suspect.
What's more frustrating is people's willingness to accept information that's potentially disengenuous simply because it coincides with their own presumptions. That and the fact that if this is BS then it plays into all the ridiculous accusations of "liberal media", and subsequently undermines what is otherwise a legitimate claim (that the US government censors scientific data that would hurt Big Business' bottom line). Sort of like what Piltdown man did to evolution or what Michael Moores manipulative documentary skills does to anyone who agrees with the spirit of his argument.
Hey, this all was predicted by a prescient scientist investigating the effects of oil spills on the Chukchi Sea coast, in my eco-novel of the modern Arctic "Flight of the Goose" http://www.lesleythomas.alaskawriters.com
I wrote the book ten years ago (released in '05) and it is all coming true.
My scientist finds many more forms of life than the polar bear in mortal danger: he knows once those oil rigs get caught in increasingly powerful storms and shifting ice, or thin-hulled oil tankers on their way to China go down in the newly opened Northwest Passage, you have massive oil spills that the shallow low-tide seas in the north can't clear as quickly; you have in peril the entire Bering Strait, one of the Earth's most diverse, richest, most vital marine ecosystems; you have dead bears, walrus, seals, whales and keystone fish species such as halibut, salmon and crab that you eat in quality restaurants... or these species are left with cancer and deformities (see: Prince William Sound);
You also have the coastline of NW Arctic Alaska pretty much dead - with its millions of breeding migratory birds who feed on bugs in the salt marshes of summer. These birds come from all over the planet Earth. And if it matters to you animal lovers, you have finished off in a horrible coup de grace several ancient, already imperiled indigenous cultures that rely on the sea and the animals: the Inupiat, Siberian Yupik (and SW Yupik once the oil drifts down the coast). Their 200 villages are all endangered to begin with, due to coastal erosion and storm surges wrought by arctic warming. They probably will have aleady had to evacuate permanently to cities and already lost the remaining brave remnants of their ancient ways of life BEFORE the oil drilling in the Chukchi wrecks the coast.
So don't just think polar bears. Scientists well know this, but they also know that polar bears are charismatic, furry, noble animals that are cute as cubs and already famous from movies, and they know the average reader doesn't get as excited about loons, sandpipers, cranes, geese, ducks and crabs, or old Inupiat grandmothers.
Well, hate to be a downer, but it is what it is. Any many readers actually find "Flight of the Goose" uplifting, in an "Earth Abides" kind of way.
joemama420: Perhaps this is a planted story about a fictional report. The reality though is that the US is chomping at the bit to get going on oil and gas drilling in the high arctic. That in itself is the problem... regardless of whether or not this report actually exists. The arctic is an EXTREMELY fragile ecosystem that the entire planet depends on. The untold ecological damage is a disaster of biblical proportions waiting to happen.
I dont dispute that oil drilling in the arctic is bad. My issue is that planted stories destroy the credibility of actual news about the same topic. It just seems kind of hypocritical to be up in arms about the mainstream media's complicity in all the government shennanigans (run-up to Iraq war, stifled science on global warming etc) but just fine with the same type of propaganda when it happens to support our personal views.
Just to be clear; Im not for drilling in the arctic, that's got nothing to do with my point. What I'm saying is that if we as a progressive community arent critical of the news we read then were just as prone to misinformation (and manipulation) as everyone else.
fred54: These are certainly dark times for the US, but do you really believe the US is the only country capable of evil? When the US is knocked down, everything will be peaceful?
A variety of circumstances have allowed the US to be particularly successful at destruction. However, not all of the world's problems can be blamed on America.
War, murder, oppression, poverty....did not begin in 1776.
I'm not certain about what is meant by "censor". In what way was the report censored? Was it blocked all together, or were certain parts of it removed and then made available? If it was released in part, does anyone know of a link to it? Also, does anyone know the names of any of the scientist who worked on it?
http://sdsdfs.com