I thought I would share in this wonderful news in keeping big oil and gas
companies out of Teshekpuk lake.....
I am starting to believe in American justice again (well a little anyway)
For Immediate Release: September 25, 2006
NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY; ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE; CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL
DIVERSITY; EARTHJUSTICE;
NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL; NORTHERN ALASKA ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER;
SIERRA CLUB;
and THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY
FEDERAL COURT DECISION PROTECTS
ALASKAN LAKE, WETLANDS FROM OIL DRILLING
Ruling Finds Interior Shortchanged Environmental Protection for Teshekpuk
Lake
September 27 Lease Sale Postponed Indefinitely
Juneau, AK -- The US District Court for Alaska today issued a strongly
worded decision that could save the internationally significant wildlife
habitat around Teshekpuk Lake in the Northeast Planning Area of the Nationa=
l
Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (NPRA). The court found the government's
environmental analysis violated federal environmental laws. Today's ruling
strikes down the Interior Department's leasing plan for the area, and
prohibits the BLM from proceeding with a planned sale of oil and gas lease=
s
on more than 400,000 acres around the lake. The lease sale was to have
taken place September 27.
"This is a great victory for wildlife and the environment," said Deirdre
McDonnell, attorney for the conservation groups that challenged the oil
leasing plan. "The Court's decision means that the administration will hav=
e
to analyze the full environmental effect of its rush to lease the entire
North Slope. We're hopeful that when the environmental costs are calculate=
d
fully, the administration will recognize that this area is just too vital t=
o
be sacrificed to the oil companies."
"Common sense and science have prevailed over the oil industry's campaign t=
o
drill no matter what the cost," said Stan Senner, Executive Director of
Audubon Alaska. "Because of its critical importance for migratory birds an=
d
other wildlife, what happens at Teshekpuk Lake has ripple effects that reac=
h
across the world."
In today's decision, US District Judge James Singleton, Jr. found that the
Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) failed to consider
the cumulative environmental impact of widespread oil and gas drilling in
the NPRA, a key point in conservation groups' arguments against the plan to
lease the area around Teshekpuk Lake, enjoins BLM's decision and remands th=
e
matter to the agency for further analysis.
"Having failed to fully consider the cumulative effects of the proposed
development in NE [Northeast planning area of the NPRA] and the previously
proposed action in the NWPA [Northwest NPRA planning area], Defendants have
violated NEPA and abused their discretion," writes Judge Singleton in the
final decision, which was issued today.
Alaska Native communities near Teshekpuk Lake strongly opposed the federal
plan to allow oil and gas drilling around the lake, which is an important
subsistence hunting and fishing ground. They have been joined by
scientists, sportsmen's groups, other conservationists, and hundreds of
thousands of concerned citizens who have voiced their concerns about the
threat that drilling poses to nesting and molting grounds used by large
populations of geese and other waterfowl and to caribou calving habitat.
This summer, more than 100,000 citizens submitted comments to the Interior
Department this summer demanding protection for vital habitat in the
Teshekpuk Lake area, bringing the total number of pro-conservation comments
to over 300,000 since 2005.
This area has enjoyed special protection from oil drilling since the Reagan
administration. Despite pleas from Alaska Natives and the public at large
to Interior Secretary Kempthorne to protect the most sensitive habitat
around Teshekpuk Lake, BLM had scheduled a September 27 lease sale in the
NPR-A's Northeast Planning Area , including sensitive areas around the lake=
,
the largest and most biologically productive lake on the North Slope.
"We're talking about an area that is the summer home for a tremendous numbe=
r
of North America's ducks and geese. said Eleanor Huffines, Alaska Regiona=
l
Director for The Wilderness Society. "Given the oil companies' dismal
environmental record on the North Slope of Alaska, it's just common sense
that a place as unique and important as Teshekpuk Lake should be set aside
and protected."
For more information, contact:
Deirdre McDonnell, Earthjustice. 907-586-2751
Stan Senner, Audubon Alaska, 907-276-7034, 907-301-0864 cell
Eleanor Huffines, The Wilderness Society, 907-272-9453, 907-232-0020
Pete Rafle, The Wilderness Society, 202-429-2642
Elliott Negin, Natural Resources Defense Council, 202-289-2405
Becky Wynn, Alaska Wilderness League, 202-544-5205
Martyn
****************************************
Martyn Stewart
Bird and Animal Sounds Digitally Recorded at:
http://www.naturesound.org
Redmond. Washington. USA
N47.65543 W121.98428
e-mail:
Tel: 425-898-0462
Make every Garden a wildlife Habitat!
*****************************************
"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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