Norton Ruling on Polar Bear Silences Silence

Defenders of Wildlife
Thursday, 17 January 2002

Statement of Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen

Reacting to a story by Michael Grunwald today on the Website of the Washington Post, Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen released the following statement.

"The Secretary's heavy-handed reversal of warnings about the dangers of oil exploitation in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to polar bears simply ignores decades of scientific findings by scientists in her own agency. The science simply could not be clearer on the point; if the coastal plain of the arctic refuge is opened to oil drilling, the polar bears that depend on that place for denning habitat and foraging will be adversely impacted. For years, the Fish and Wildlife Service has held to the position they laid out unequivocally in their 1995 'Habitat Conservation Strategy for Polar Bears in Alaska,' that 'Oil and gas activities which displace seals, disturb denning bears and attract bears during winter months, pose a significant threat to bears.'

"It's become a dismal pattern; when the science doesn't agree with her position, Secretary Norton simply ignores or silences the science, again.

"Unfortunately this polar bear edict is just the latest in a disheartening string of conflicts between the Secretary's office and the weight of scientific opinion. Earlier this week, she squelched agency scientists' objections to Corps of Engineers proposals to weaken wetlands protection. Late last year, her office performed political surgery on the findings of Fish and Wildlife Service caribou biologists and even claimed it was a simple misunderstanding when she completely reversed the core finding that caribou depend heavily on the coastal plain of the arctic refuge. Last week, her office opened the door to special permits that ignore boat speed limits in critical habitat for the Florida manatee. And last year, she torpedoed decades of scientific work and successful efforts to win the trust of local timber companies and timber workers when she dumped plans to reintroduce the grizzly bear into the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness. Time and time again, when the political appointees in the Secretary's office get their hands on science, the science comes out the loser.

"With the Senate poised to hold a historic vote on opening the arctic refuge to the oil drillers, we will re-double our efforts to make sure Senators hear the scientific opinion over the din of political babble out of the Department of Interior."

For more information, or to contact Defenders of Wildlife, see their website at: www.defenders.org