Center for Biological Diversity Pursues Legal Action Over Arctic Drilling And Impact On Polar Bears

Here’s more from Arctic Today:

The Center for Biological Diversity on Dec. 22 filed a notice of intent to sue over the Biden administration’s alleged failures to protect polar bears at the Peregrine prospect being developed by Australia’s 88 Energy.

The Bureau of Land Management, the agency overseeing Peregrine activities, should not allow future work at the prospect until there is formal consultation under the Endangered Species Act to analyze impacts to polar bears, the group said: “Failure to do so would constitute a gross dereliction of the agency’s legal obligations and deprive polar bears of vitally important protections.”

Polar bears, listed as threatened, are imperiled by loss of sea ice and other effects of rapid climate change in the Arctic. New exploration at Peregrine would exacerbate those problems, said the group’s filing. “Ongoing and new oil and gas activities not only cause more of the greenhouse gas emissions already harming polar bears, but threaten the bears through, inter alia, oil spills, noise pollution, and physical obstructions,” the center wrote.

The BLM declined to comment on the Center for Biological Diversity’s planned lawsuit.