Polar Bears Get Protected Habitat in Arctic!

by greendem

Here's a bit of great news for you greenies, animal lovers, and humans who want to protect the climate that is the basis for human civilization.

The Obama administration is setting aside 187,000 square miles in Alaska as a "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.

The total, which includes areas of sea ice off the Alaska coast, is about 13,000 acres less than in a preliminary plan released last year.

Tom Strickland, assistant Interior secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, said the designation would help polar bears stave off extinction, recognizing that the greatest threat is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change.

continued at Daily Kos....

The grim Arctic Report Card

by DWG

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just published its 2010 update on the Arctic environment. This report was produced in collaboration with scientists from the United States, Canada, Russia, and European Union. The bottom line in this report can be summarized in a single sentence:

Return to previous Arctic conditions is unlikely.

Warming of the atmosphere and sea water in the northern hemisphere are expected to produce long-term changes in the polar region, including the loss of summer sea ice, depletion of Greenland glacial ice, permafrost melt, and stress on many animal populations. Scientists first raised the possibility of an Arctic "death spiral" several years ago, which was dismissed as a passing fantasy by the ethically-challenged, half-term governor of Alaska. The possibility of an Arctic "death spiral" now looks highly likely.

continued at Daily Kos....

The Last Frontier's Struggle For Our Future: Climate Hero vs Climate Peacock and Climate Zombie

by A Siegel

"Alaska: The Last Frontier" is so eerily echoing of The Final Frontier.  And, as with ever so many episodes of Star Trek: The Final Frontier, The Last Frontier is seeing a struggle that could have life-or-death implications for a planet.

Alaska's election could, plausibly, be a determining factor on the nation's (and the globe's) path forward toward (or away from) a clean-energy future.

continued at Daily Kos....

Thousands of Walruses Mass on Beaches: Arctic Sea Ice Gone

by FishOutofWater

Tens of thousands of walruses have pulled themselves out of the Arctic ocean, beaching in never-seen-before numbers on Alaskan Arctic shores. Since the great Arctic sea ice melt of 2007 walruses, unable to hunt for food from the ice, have congregated on Arctic ocean beaches at summer's end. Walruses may be on the path to extinction.

Walrus researchers with the United States Geological Survey estimate there could be anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 of the mammals currently taking a rest along Alaska's Chukchi coastline. Ferreira, one of about 234 people who call Point Lay home, thinks the numbers may be even higher. Since only about 20 percent of walruses generally come to shore, scientists suspect another 80,000 walruses may be swimming nearby.

photo: USGS

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BP to Alaska's seals, whales, polar bears: " You're Next"

by hester

Head meet wall. Just when you think it cannot get more insane, it does. The moratorium that the Potus declared in response to the catastrophe in the GOM, has not halted the off-shore drilling plans by BP in Alaska. In today's NY Times there is a long piece about how the criminally negligent BP is forging ahead with the Liberty Project.

Three miles off Alaska's coast, BP is set to drill 2 miles under the sea and then farther horizontally (6-8 miles) to get to the 100 million barrel reservoir in US waters. Why you may ask hasn't this project been halted along with other off-shore oil-drilling moratoria? Because they gamed the system by building a 31 acre pile of rock and gravel, in 20+ feet of water, so they can call it onshore. BP long ago received the state and federal permits and has only to file it's final application. Plans are to start drilling this fall.

There's more below.

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A Clear difference: setting the Price of Carbon, so WE get a Share

by jamess

Clearly America needs to reach for, and achieve, a Clean Energy Future.

Not so Clear is the Road we will take, if any, to ultimately get there ...

Kerry says Obama intends to move votes on energy
Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Richard Cowan, Editing by Sandra Maler, Reuters -- June 22, 2010

WASHINGTON - [...]
Obama is slated to meet leading Republican and Democratic senators on Wednesday to discuss a way forward for the energy legislation.
[...]
Kerry said the bill must include ways to price carbon but was not "locked into any one single way of doing it."

"The fact is if we don't price carbon, we will create one tenth of the jobs and reduce only one tenth of the emissions," he said. "It would essentially be an energy-only bill."

continued at Daily Kos....

Weekly Mulch: Can Washington Stand Up to the Energy Industry?

by The Media Consortium

By Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger

President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders spent this week trying to stand up to the oil industry. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Obama pushed BP to siphon $20 billion into a escrow fund that will cover liability claims, and Congress grilled BP CEO Tony Hayward and other oil bigwigs as to how they were protecting the country’s coastal waters.

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An attempt to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases

by The Book Bear

A bipartisan group of senators is supporting a resolution to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases.   The resolution, sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and 40 other senators, would throw out the endangerment finding on greenhouse gases and halt new EPA regulations set to take effect next year. A motion to proceed to the resolution failed 47-53.

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Another Oil Spill in Alaska

by Quite Contrary

Perhaps the MSM would have picked this up if it weren't for the Mother of All Oil Spills in the Gulf. http://www.adn.com/... Alyeska 'may have dropped ball,' official says The trans-Alaska pipeline remained shut down today as responders took a cautious approach to cleaning up thousands of barrels of crude oil that spilled into a containment area at a pump station. Investigators from six state and federal agencies have arrived or are on their way to the pump station near Delta Junction to investigate the accident there...

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Baked Alaska: Minerals Management Stupidity

by DWG

The conclusion of a New York Times article on the actions of the Minerals Management Service office in Alaska left a bad taste in many mouths. Shortly after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proposed reconfiguring the agency, John Goll, the head of the Alaska region, called an “all hands” meeting, according to a staff member there. Afterward, people lingered to eat a cake decorated with the words, “Drill, Baby, Drill.” Interesting choice of cake decoration by an agency pushing drilling in the Arctic Ocean while oil chokes the Gulf of Mexico.

continued at Daily Kos....