Bush Moves on Alaska as Backs Are Turned by Joel Connelly

[Joanne98]

Whether it’s outsourcing a war in Iraq, or greasing the skids for industry buddies in Alaska, the Bush administration has made the backdoor fix its fundamental operating maxim.

The nation’s attention has lately been diverted to stocks’ roller-coaster ride, foreclosures and falling house prices, and self-destructive acts by 20-something showbiz folk.

What better time to sneak through something called the Chukchi Sea Oil and Gas Lease Sale 193, which happens to cover essential habitat for half the U.S. polar bear population?

What more opportune occasion to open 2.4 million acres of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and road building, on which Uncle Sam will be lucky to get back 5 cents on the dollar?

The Chukchi Sea lease is a particular example of how timing figures in a fix.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced a “delay” in its decision on listing the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.

In the meantime, the Minerals Management Service is getting set, on Feb. 6, to throw open 30 million acres of the bears’ habitat to oil and gas development.

With the skill of a World War II convoy escort, the administration has laid down a smoke screen around its actions.

“We wouldn’t be proceeding with this sale if we weren’t comfortable that we had enough knowledge, enough data to say that we can adequately see that the polar bear is protected: I’m confident we have done all we needed to do,” MMS boss Randall Luthi told a House subcommittee earlier this month.

Bull pucky! Continued>>>
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/28/6667/