Voices

Developing resources won't harm wildlife

At the Department of Law, we protect Alaskans. We vigorously prosecute crime to keep our citizens safe and enforce consumer protection laws so Alaskans can keep their hard-earned income.

But an often overlooked and critical part of our work is establishing and defending a legal framework that promotes economic opportunity. For example, we went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in successfully fighting efforts to shut down the Kensington Mine in Southeast.

The latest challenge we face is the misuse of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by Outside environmental groups that have little concern for our economic future. These groups have sought "threatened" or "endangered" listings under the ESA for Alaska wildlife such as the polar bear and ribbon seal -- whose populations are robust and healthy -- based solely on theories about how continued climate change may impact these species in the distant future. In response to the increasing number of Alaska-focused ESA lawsuits, we are implementing Gov. Parnell's comprehensive strategy to ensure that the ESA is not used as a tool to lock up Alaska's resources and shut down our economy.

As we do, it is important to keep in mind four important points.

First, the legal theory being championed by these groups, and increasingly being accepted by federal agencies, strikes at the heart of our economic future. That is why the state is challenging the polar bear listing.

These are the facts: Even as the sea ice that forms part of the polar bears' habitat has declined due to climate change, the global polar bear population is currently robust and stable, and has at least doubled in the past four decades. Yet the federal Fish and Wildlife Service still listed the polar bear as threatened under the ESA based on speculative models of what might happen to its habitat and population if climate change continues. Such an ESA listing -- based solely on assumptions rather than a demonstrated population decline -- is both unprecedented and flawed.

Because climate change undoubtedly affects our Arctic environment, almost any species in Alaska -- regardless of health and population size -- could be targeted for ESA listing, under this legal theory. And some environmental groups are aiming for just that. The Center for Biological Diversity issued a press release highlighting 350 additional species allegedly threatened by climate change, including numerous Alaska species. If these species are listed, then resource development and hunting and fishing could be tied up and shut down across huge swaths of Alaska, imperiling livelihoods and our collective future. Therefore, we not only are challenging the polar bear listing but will also intervene in court next week to support a different federal agency's decision not to list the ribbon seal.

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Second, by challenging the expansive legal theory of the polar bear listing, we are not rejecting science or contesting the evidence of climate change and its serious implications. The governor is working on this important issue through his climate change subcabinet, chaired by Environmental Conservation Commissioner Larry Hartig, who will be speaking at the climate change conference under way in Copenhagen.

Third, Alaskans care deeply about protecting our wildlife and environment. The state has joined federal agencies in implementing conservation measures for species such as Bowhead whales, ice seals and the Steller sea lion. The state also will spend about $750,000 over the next three years to study polar bear habitat. State, federal, and international efforts over the last four decades have been critical in dramatically increasing polar bear numbers at the same time we developed oil fields on the North Slope.

That success illustrates the final point. It is possible -- indeed, it is our constitutional duty -- to responsibly develop our resources and protect our wildlife. So in the coming months, as environmental groups attempt to list more species under the ESA and shut down resource development in the Outer Continental Shelf and Tongass National Forest, Alaskans should be highly skeptical of their claims that they are acting in the public interest. The public interest lies in advancing economic opportunity for Alaskans while preserving our wildlife and environment. We will go to court as often as it takes to promote this public interest and secure our prosperity and that of future generations.

Dan Sullivan is attorney general of Alaska.

By ATTORNEY GENERAL DAN SULLIVAN

Dan Sullivan

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