With the global rush to find ever more remote sources of dwindling fossil fuels, the fragile Chukchi region is now at risk. Drilling is opposed by the Inupiat native people, who subsist on endangered bowhead whales and other marine animals hunted for generations. They and environmentalists contend that oil companies and the U.S. Government's Minerals Management Service (MMS) have not done enough research to determine whether drilling in the Chukchi will be safe, particularly in light of environmental stresses already being caused by climate change.
“The MMS's environmental impact statement did not take into account what we have learned in the last year - that we are not going to see as much sea ice and this is going to have really big ramifications for a number of species like the polar bear and walrus," according to Chris Krenz of Oceana, a marine environment advocacy group.
Environmentalists are also concerned that if a spill occurs while the Chukchi is frozen, there will be no way to clean up the oil beneath the ice. Shell and ConocoPhillips, the two biggest bidders in the sale of drilling rights here, remain determined to search for the 12 billion barrels of oil believed to lie under the sea floor. A legal challenge to the MMS's environmental impact statement is underway. A similar suit temporarily halted Shell's plans to drill in the Beaufort Sea last summer, but drilling opponents are not optimistic that they can permanently stop the rush to drill in the Arctic.
April 2008
