Alaska Native groups sue federal government over polar bear habitat designation

[alp227]

Source: Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Native groups worried about losing tax revenues and royalties from oil development filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the federal government’s designation of critical habitat for threatened polar bears on the state’s oil-rich North Slope.

The Arctic Slope Regional Corp., North Slope Borough, Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and other groups took issue with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to designate more than 187,000 square miles — an area larger than California — as critical habitat for the bears, part of the recovery plan required by law for a species declared threatened or endangered.

The Department of the Interior is also named in the lawsuit, which says the government’s designation “will not address the primary threat to polar bears, the loss of sea ice due to climate change.”

The financial burden of the designation to the state, the North Slope Borough and the Arctic Slope Regional Corp. — a regional Native corporation — could reach in the billions of dollars, plaintiffs said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/alaska-native-groups-sue-federal-government-over-polar-bear-habitat-designation/2011/05/13/AFXST52G_story.html

[WillParkinson]

1. I remember...

When the land used to be sacred and was meant to be saved for future generations. Times change.

[JJW]

2. Unfortunately we all understand we as humans

are only as valuable as the amount of dollars we have acquired. Those with little money face an early death, here in America. The land of the have-mores and want even more.

[BadtotheboneBob]

3. Indigenous Peoples vs Indigenous Wildlife

Hard to pick a side on this one...

[Arctic Dave]

4. Hardly, ASRC is one of the largest corporations in Alaska.

They are a HUGE oilfield contractor that spans the globe. They are not some poor little tribe living in igloos.

[BadtotheboneBob]

6. ASRC

...is owned by and represents the business interests of its approximately 11,000 Iñupiaq shareholders. Who says that they have to live in igloos?

[Arctic Dave]

9. ASRC is another corporation.

It hardly represents anyone but its own interest. Yes the share holders get didvidends but little else then that. I would suggest a trip to Barrow then a trip to Anchorage to see how the executives live compared to the shareholders.

Hint: Most of the exec aren't native.

[Drahthaardogs]

21. Ah Come on Dave!

Lots of tribal members get checks every year for $75,000 or more, just for being a member of the tribe. ANILCA was a huge boon to many tribes, and those that played the game, did well. In fact, a huge problem tends to be the native kids, who do not get a stipend since the pie was cut up once, watching all of their relatives get theirs. knowing they are not getting any at all. As for executives vs. natives, a lot of natives just do not have any use for huge homes and really, what good is a car in Kotzebue where there are no streets? How about the Native Hospital in Kotz? Why is it that the best hospital in Anchorage bar none is a native owned hospital and free to anyone of native descent?

Sorry, many (but not all) natives sold out about twenty years ago. They like their free money and have no desire to give it up for a polar bear.

[uppityperson]

7. Thanks Dave, was wondering about them. Here's their web site...

I do agree that global climate change is the cause of melting sea ice.

Interesting info on them here. Sounds like they are helping with education and community support funding. Probably stashing away money for when the oil runs too low to make it profitable, preparing for the future?

I find this news release, similar to OP. Seems like they are trying to postpone that "oil runs too low" time.

http://www.asrc.com/CorpNews/Pages/ASRC_files_suit.aspx

(clip)
An independent investigation commissioned by ASRC and the state of Alaska into the direct and indirect costs of the Critical Habitat Designation found the financial burden to the state of Alaska, North Slope Borough and ASRC could reach into the billions. Even a one-year delay in production for a relatively small North Slope oil field (190 million recoverable barrels) would likely equate to a loss of more than $200 million in royalties and tax revenues over 15 years. Because the revenues are shared, these adverse affects would be felt by all Alaska Native shareholders. Almost half of the North Slope oil production comes from an area within the Critical Habitat Designation.

“My biggest concern is how this will affect our communities and local economies,” said North Slope Borough Mayor Edward S. Itta. “Ordinary community development is at risk from this designation, and the polar bears aren’t helped by it in any way. Their problem is receding sea ice. The only thing this designation accomplishes is to create another threatened species — the people who live here.”(clip)

http://www.asrc.com/Pages/Home.aspx

• Arctic Slope Regional Corporation is the largest locally owned and operated business in Alaska, with approximately 10,000 employees on its payroll, including more than 3,000 Alaskans. Revenues exceeded $2.3 billion in 2010, up from $1.9 billion in 2009.

• ASRC is owned by 11,000 Iñupiat Eskimo shareholders who live primarily in eight villages on Alaska’s North Slope,above the Arctic Circle. This is one of the most isolated and challenging environments in the United States.
(clip)

• ASRC distributed nearly $35.5 million in wages to its shareholders in 2010.

• Since 2005, ASRC has distributed an average of $16 million each year in benefits to its shareholders in the form of educational scholarships and community support funding, as well as training and development. This distribution topped $20 million in 2010.

• ASRC has distributed more than $483 million in dividends to shareholders since its incorporation in 1972.

[FLPanhandle]

16. Not hard to pick at all...wildlife wins easily

It's not like human beings are endangered.

[Anakin Skywalker]

19. Damn straight! +1

[Arctic Dave]

5. Funny how they want to drill for oil and get the money but they

only want to do it in ANWR were they maintain there majority share. Try and drill around Tepekshuk Lake in NPR-A and all of a sudden it sacred ground.

ASRC can blow me. They are shilling for the Oil corps.

[Doremus]

8. They are shilling for the Oil corps. --- YES. nt

[WatsonT]

11. Well . . . money can be sacred too

Eve?r tried to buy a jacuzzi with sacred dirt?

[WatsonT]

10. Well this is pretty ironic

[Yo_Mama]

12. The number of polar bears is growing

If I were a member of one of those tribes, I'm sure I'd join in the suit.

[roguevalley]

13. they are growing? data?

[Yo_Mama]

14. The peoples all report so

The population is growing swiftly enough that in many cases hunters can no longer go out alone. They have to go in groups.

Also larger litter sizes are being reported in many areas, so the hunters expect a real population explosion in about five or six areas.

I do believe the numbers of the people who live out there and hunt out there are far more accurate than the helicopter fly-over counts. For one thing, since the hunters and the bears are mostly going after seal, they are likely to be in the same place at the same time. And for another thing, none of the native peoples really trust the government.

Much of the increased population over the last few decades is probably because of less hunting, but the higher litter sizes do seem to indicate that the populations are likely to keep growing for some time. That is why the native peoples are not buying the theory.

[roguevalley]

15. actually, I live here and anecdotal evidence from people with a

vested interest in making it so doesn't make it so. THey are endangered and in our lifetime they will be gone. Don't believe all the propoganda.

[Auntie Bush]

17. I'm with you.

I fear for the future of the Polor Bears and donate to NRDC. Painted a Mother and cub for a gift to my granddaughter. She loves it and got her interested in reading books about Polar Bears.

[Anakin Skywalker]

20. You want to buy a bridge? Maybe Palin's Bridge to Nowhere.....

Actually, this entire discussion is like a Bridge to Nowhere.

[tabasco]

18. Fuck 'em.

Bears were there first