USA: As Melting Sea Ice Forces Walruses Ashore,

Obama Administration OKs Dangerous Arctic Drilling Plan

Center for Biological Diversity - Press Release

22 August 2011

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— The Obama administration last Thursday approved a Bush-era plan to open the Chukchi Sea off Alaska to offshore oil drilling without determining how it will affect Arctic wildlife.

At the same time, thousands of Pacific walruses have congregated on Alaska’s Chukchi shore as the sea ice they normally rely upon has disappeared. The migration of the walruses onshore in Alaska is reflective of the rapidly changing conditions of the Arctic caused by global warming.

“It’s a painful irony that on the very day the Interior Department says no additional information is needed to understand the impacts of drilling on Arctic wildlife, distressed walruses in the Chukchi Sea were seen hauling themselves onto shore because there’s no sea ice where they need it,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Arctic is reeling from climate change, but the Obama administration has a head-in-the-sand approach to looking at the impacts of oil drilling in the region.”...

Source: As Melting Sea Ice Forces Walruses Ashore, Obama Administration OKs Dangerous Arctic Drilling Plan
Author: Center for Biological Diversity

Link: Climate change causing species to change habitat faster than expected
Link: Pacific Walruses Studied as Sea Ice Melts
Link: The Great Upward and Northward Migration is Underway
Link: Wildlife Responds Fast To Climate Change: Study