Save Our Polar Bears  The Obama administration is again considering dangerous drilling off our coasts. We need your help to protect polar bears and other wildlife from dirty drilling.  Make your voice hear now. Urge the Obama administration to protect our coasts. The deadline for comments is this Wednesday, so please take action now.
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I’ve been fighting for more than three decades to protect our coastal waters – and the wildlife that depends on them – I’ve never seen anything like the arrogance of Big Oil’s invasion plans for America’s Polar Bear Seas.
Less than one year after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and just weeks after a significant oil spill in the frigid waters off the coast of Norway, Shell and other oil companies are pressuring the Obama administration to open up the fragile and remote waters of the Arctic to harmful new drilling.
Tell the Obama administration that enough is enough: No more drilling in the Polar Bear Seas.
We only have until Wednesday to make our voices heard. Please take action now.
The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas – sometimes called the Polar Bear Seas – are vital to the survival of America’s threatened polar bears, walrus, bowhead whales and so many other Arctic species.
Yet Shell Oil and other companies are charging ahead with plans to industrialize this crucial area. Here are the facts:
- Big Oil can’t clean up a spill in these remote waters. Last year’s BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and recent new spills off the coasts of Norway and in the Gulf of Mexico show how ill-prepared these companies are when disaster strikes.
- Arctic drilling won’t reduce American gas prices. It will take years – even decades – to get oil from the Arctic. Even then, there is no guarantee that oil won’t simply be shipped abroad to meet the rising demand in China, India and other countries.
- Drilling could devastate Arctic wildlife. Thousands of sea otters were killed when the Exxon Valdez ran aground. The BP disaster claimed the lives of hundreds of threatened and endangered sea turtles and other wildlife. Now imagine the damage that could be wrought on polar bears, walrus and other wildlife by a spill in an area that is more than 1,000 miles away from the nearest Coast Guard station.
But it's not just Arctic wildlife that's in danger. Big Oil is also pushing for drilling off coasts in the Lower 48, imperiling dolphins, sea turtles, sea otters and other unique wildlife with the threat of a toxic oil catastrophe.
We need to send a loud, clear message to the Obama administration about the importance of protecting the Polar Bear Seas. That's why we need at least 50,000 people to take action before Wednesday.
If just two people from Media take action, we'll reach our 50,000 message goal. Will you help?
Stop harmful offshore drilling. Take action now.
Last year, caring people like you helped secure temporary protections for the Polar Bear Seas. Now we need your help again. Please make your voice heard on this important issue.
Sincerely,
 | Richard Charter Senior Policy Advisor for Marine Programs Defenders of Wildlife |
© Copyright 2011, Defenders of Wildlife
