Ringed seal. Credit: Sven Roeder

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar acknowledged that “Shell screwed up” and announced they would not be allowed back into the Arctic without major changes. It was the right call, because a major oil spill in the Arctic ocean poses unacceptable risks to fragile Arctic marine ecosystems and the coastline, and would harm people who live in the Arctic and depend on the ocean for subsistence. Any major spill would also occur hundreds of miles from the nearest Coast Guard station, and recovery would be hampered by the constant threat of sea ice, low temperatures, high winds, fog and long stretches of darkness.  There is simply no proven technology to clean up a spill in Arctic conditions.

America’s Arctic Ocean is home to many of our nation’s most beloved wildlife species: polar bears, walrus, ice seals, beluga whales and more. While Shell will not be drilling in America’s Arctic in 2013, the Arctic Ocean could still be at risk next year when we are remembering the 25th anniversary of Exxon Valdez.  

It’s up to the American people to let President Obama know that drilling in America’s Arctic Ocean is risky and dangerous. Call President Obama at 202-456-1414, or
tweet the White House (@whitehouse) and tell the President to say no to drilling in the Arctic Ocean.  Here is an example:

Polar bears love their Arctic home– @whitehouse #SaveTheArctic and say no to risky and dangerous drilling

— Bentley Johnson (@rutherfordbhaze) March 26, 2013

Retweet to help save Arctic wildlife from drilling and tell @whitehouse to #SaveTheArctic!

To learn more about National Wildlife Federation’s work to protect the Arctic and Arctic wildlife, visit www.nwf.org/Arctic.

In fact, in the post-debate coverage the moderator, Candy Crowley said “I had that question for all of you climate change people,” but that she wanted go “go with the economy” –completely missing the point that shifting to renewable energy and building energy efficient technology is critical to creating jobs and revitalizing our economy. At the same time, the impacts of climate change are causing widespread damages in the U.S. and globally.

The avoidance of climate change by the media and the candidates must end before voters go to the polls on Election Day.

Urgent Threat to Polar Bears

New satellite data just revealed that polar bears’ Arctic ice melted to a new record low this summer–retreating from areas at the edge of the Arctic Ocean where polar bears most need the ice to hunt for seals–and leaving many of the bears desperate for food.

Every summer, a portion of Arctic ice melts and then forms again in the fall, but the ice is melting earlier and melting more now than any other time on record. In fact, the area of Arctic ice that melted this summer was an incredible 49% above the average from 1979 to 2000. The additional ice that melted is an area nearly double the size of Alaska.

In the face of the urgent threat polar bears, we must ensure that voters hear whether candidates running for Congress or the Presidency support using more clean energy and setting strong limits on carbon pollution to address climate.

Presidential Candidates Must Address Climate Change

In 2009–when strong legislation to fight climate change passed the U.S. House and had the backing of President Obama–the only thing stopping us were a few pro-Big Polluter members of the U.S. Senate. Making climate change a part of this year’s election issues is critical to being able to address global warming.

Polls are showing that undecided voters–who the candidates want to sway–care deeply about climate change.  Make sure climate change is once again in the national spotlight, so that voters can find out which candidates plan to fight climate change before they cast their ballot.

We have an opportunity in these next few weeks to get climate change back in the national spotlight before Election Day by urging Bob Schieffer, the moderator of the final presidential debate, to ask the candidates their positions on addressing climate change.

Be a voice for polar bears–shine the spotlight on climate change before Election Day.

Remember the days when Big Tobacco insisted their product was safe? For a long time, people bought in: doctors lit up, mothers smoked around their kids … just watch an episode of “Mad Men” for a visual. We eventually wised up, but Phillip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and co. spent decades denying that cigarettes cause cancer, in the face of overwhelming evidence. To put it bluntly, they lied for a living.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss—Big Oil.

Responders could only restore a small part of the ecosystem after the Exxon Valdez spill, 800 miles south of Shell's proposed sites. Cleanup would be next to impossible that far north. (photo: ARLIS Reference)

Since the BP oil spill, the press and groups like NWF have turned the spotlight on these companies and discovered the not-so-shocking truth: Big Oil has a casual relationship with honesty. We put out a report last year that detailed how major accidents have become the norm for the petroleum industry, whose CEO’s have taken a page from the tobacco textbook and apparently think that if they lie often enough—and boldly enough—that people will believe them. The lie? “Trust us. We know what we’re doing.”

Case in point: Shell Oil Company was recently approved to drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off Alaska’s northern coast. Shell has been drooling over this area for years but has been delayed by its own corner-cutting and challenges from environmental groups. We’ve already detailed some of the problems with Arctic drilling including nightmarish weather and the potential impacts on wildlife, and last month’s major spill in the North Sea put another black mark on Shell’s record. But now, barring an unexpected reversal from the White House, the company is ready to start even though they clearly pulled their “facts” out of thin air.

Well here’s the REAL fact: Shell can’t clean up a spill in the Arctic, any more than Big Tobacco could make a “safe” cigarette. They know this. We know this. Somebody should probably tell the regulators before everything goes up in smoke.

Here’s your chance. We have until September 26 to tell the government what we think of Shell’s bogus claims, and you can submit your own comment online in less time than it takes to brush your teeth.

A polar bear keeps close to her young along the Beaufort Sea coast in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (photo: Susanne Miller/USFWS)

TAKE ACTION and add your voice to the thousands of other Americans who are speaking up to protect Arctic wildlife and ensure the health of our oceans.

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Click here to learn more about National Wildlife Federation’s work in the Arctic.

The British government warned Monday that several hundred tons of oil may have leaked into the North Sea from a Royal Dutch Shell rig.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change said it estimates that the leak from a flow line at the Gannet Alpha platform off the Scottish coast that began last week could have spilled several hundred tons of oil into the sea.

An oil rig in the North Sea (photo: flickr/Tuftronic10000)

By all accounts this isn’t another Deepwater Horizon, and (thankfully) it didn’t happen in rough winter conditions, but it illustrates just how dishonest the oil companies are about their ability to protect our oceans and marine wildlife. Several hundred tons of oil is not a dribble—it’s a lot of fuel, enough to create a slick 20 miles long. And it’s at least the 11^th reported incident at the platform since 2009, for an industry that notoriously under-reports its spills.

But go ahead, Shell, insist that this is just another “isolated incident” or a “minor accident” or whatever it is your PR folks cook up to let you sleep at night. I guess it doesn’t matter when you’re making billions in profits and have Congress on speed dial.

Walrus cows and yearlings on the ice pack (photo: US Fish & Wildlife Service)

As for the rest of us, isn’t it time to stop trusting these people? How many more spills will it take to realize that we’re being lied to by an industry that isn’t accountable to anyone? If Shell has its way, next summer they’ll be punching holes in the ocean floor north of Alaska, home to walrus, bowhead and beluga whales, polar bears and other iconic species.

Climate change is already melting the sea ice upon which so many animals and native peoples rely—do they really need another kick in the teeth?

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For a great, in-depth look at the recent history and politics of oil in the Arctic, check out Subhankar Banerjee’s essay “BPing the Arctic, Again — Fast Tracking Shell’s Dangerous Drilling.”

Basic common sense says that if you want to increase oil production, you at least need to pay for more rig inspectors to handle the extra work.

But the new annual government spending bill introduced this week in the House of Representatives is an assault on common sense: not only does it under-fund BOEMRE (the oil watchdog agency) but it also includes a provision to speed up drilling offshore Alaska and re-write the Clean Air Act in favor of major polluters. Meanwhile, in the Senate, lawmakers are trying to put oil rigs off the coast of Virginia and in the Arctic Ocean.

Arctic drilling places endangered species -- like this Polar Bear -- in harm's way (photo: Amy Messere)

Would Congress be so eager to drill if they paid attention to the news?

Some recent headlines:

• “Oil and gas spills in North Sea every week, papers reveal” – July 5, The Guardian (UK)
• “After Gulf, now China spill spells doom” – July 21, The Times of India
• “Coast Guard checks reported oil spill off Louisiana” – June 8, Reuters
• “Oil slicks in Gulf of Mexico” – June 30, SkyTruth

Since the Gulf disaster we have learned that spills are the rule, not the exception, when it comes to offshore drilling. Many of them go unreported; the Guardian article cited above calls its findings just “the tip of the iceberg.”

Other accidents are kept quiet, [whistleblowers] claim, because workers fear they cannot report them in case they lose their jobs. One veteran said that although everyone is formally told to report anything that goes wrong, staff adhere to an informal code to remain silent to avoid a halt in drilling that loses money for the companies.

So the deck is stacked against safety from the beginning, and BOEMRE (The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement…whew!) already has its hands full: a senior staffer told us that the House’s budget is $35 million less than BOEMRE needs for inspectors and permit planning for future leases.  For an agency that already runs on fumes and table scraps, that’s a huge chunk of money.

In what world does this make sense? It’s another kick to the teeth of environmental and public health programs, which are being dismantled before our eyes by this Congress.  Make sure to check out National Wildlife Federation’s breakdown of the spending bill and then TAKE ACTION by sending a message to your representatives in Washington.

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Stop the stealth attack on wildlife!  Please speak up for wildlife TODAY, urging your federal officials to protect our nation’s bedrock conservation laws: http://bit.ly/defendwildlife