Alaskan Drilling Sparks Environmental Debate

Companies looking to drill for oil and gas in Alaska's Chukchi Sea offered $2.6 billion in bids, according to a report published last week by the United States Interior Department.

The largest bid was a record-breaking $105.3 million offer by Shell Oil for a three-by-three mile leasehold.

There were a total of 667 bids made by companies competing for tracts in the 29 million acre area, which is believed to contain up to 15 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Despite the approval of the Interior Department, the companies are facing strong criticism from environmental groups who believe that the drilling will jeopardize the area's polar bears.

The Chukchi Sea region is home to approximately one-tenth of the wor-ld's polar bear population.

Many environmental groups are concerned about the high risk for oil spills and serious damage to the bears' natural habitat, which is also shared by bowhead whales and walruses.

Specifically, the focus is on the threat to sea ice, where polar bears spend a large portion of their lives.

During the summer of 2007, a record low for sea ice-only 1.65 million square miles-was observed in the Arctic.

According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, that is nearly 40 percent less ice than the long-term average recorded between 1979 and 2000.

The disagreements over the drilling have gone all the way to the House of Representatives, where Bush administration officials argued that the oil and gas exploration would not pose a significant threat to the polar bears despite the melting sea ice.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), the House Committee's ranking Republican, said that although "there may be a problem with the polar bear population," he is confident that oil and gas development and bear protection can coincide, according to The Washington Post.

Other state representatives are insisting that the Interior Department postpone the drilling leases until it is decided whether the polar bear is going to be added to the list of endangered species.

The department is already under fire for missing the deadline to declare the polar bear endangered.

"Signing on the dotted line with oil companies before creating clear lines of protection for the polar bear will only lead to litigation, oil company compensation and the potential decimation of the polar bear in Alaska," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, according to The Washington Post.

The decision to categorize the polar bear an endangered species is a controversial one. If the bears were added to the Endangered Species Act, it would be the first time in history that an animal's protection is directly linked to global warming.

"We believe adequate protection exists," said Randall Luthi, director of the Minerals Management Service, which conducts the oil lease sales.

Luthi told MSNBC that the lease sales include provisions that aim to lessen the impact on the bears.

"It doesn't make sense to open prime polar bear habitat to oil drilling when the animal is under consideration for federal protection," Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said in a statement.

Many people hope that the controversy will bring the issue of the melting sea ice and the potential threat to polar bears into the spotlight. Last September, the United States Geol-ogical Survey reported that two-thirds of the polar bear population would disappear because of shrinking sea ice by mid-century if steps are not taken to limit global warming.