Alaska criticizes federal position on Polar Bears

Alaska Governor Sean Parnell has come to clash with the federal government on the issue of polar bears. The arctic predator, which hunts on declining sea ice, has grown to its largest population in decades — over 20,000 today over as little as 8,000 in 1960. Despite this successful recovery, the Department of Interior lists this species as threatened due to climate change models. Alaskan lawmakers argue that the science is flawed, showing conflicting federal research that show arctic thaws as soon as 2013, as late as 2050, or never at all. "Never before has a species been listed when the population of that species is at its highest, most robust," said Alaska Attorney General, Dan Sullivan. "It's at all-time historical highs. Any species that lives in an Arctic environment could be listed under the ESA without regard to the current health or size of the species population."

What really has Alaskan citizens and lawmakers upset is that the endangered ruling is being used as legal grounds by activist groups to challenge petroleum development in Northern Alaska — an industry that generates about 90% of the state's revenue. Alaskan lawmakers pointed out how offshore oil development that falls outside of state boundaries and in direct federal taxation zones are given special waivers despite being inside the habitats of "legitimately endangered whales."

Critics use the history of oil-related environmental disasters, such as the pipeline rupture of 2006 and the Exxon-Valdez spill of 1989 as examples of why petroleum production should be halted in polar bear habitats. The latest USGS report states that the decline of arctic ice will eradicate about two-thirds of the world's current polar bear population by 2050.

"The agency can't just point to some remaining uncertainty and refuse to take action," said Kassie Siegel, the attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.