ARCTIC WILDLIFE

In January this year, the Biden administration revoked an executive order instigated by Donald Trump in 2017 that attempted to open up US Arctic waters to new drilling activities. ‘Oil and gas drilling contributes to climate change and threatens wildlife and communities. The court’s decision to uphold the ban on oil and gas leasing in the Arctic Ocean gets us one step closer to permanent protection. We need to drill less, not more,’ says Margaret Williams, managing director of the WWF-US Arctic programme. The vast size, remote location and extreme weather conditions – combined with the complete lack of infrastructure for responding to oil spills – make drilling in the Arctic Ocean extremely dangerous. WWF-US describes the international capability to respond to emergencies and oil spills as severely limited. ‘Broken ice and other severe weather conditions in the Arctic would make any large oil spill or well blowout catastrophic for the amazing life in the area,’ Williams adds. Spills aren’t just a theoretical threat. In 2020, a storage tank near Norilsk in Russia sank, probably as a result of melting permafrost, and 17,500 tonnes of oil leaked into rivers, a previously pristine lake and the Arctic Ocean. Expansion of oil and gas drilling could also be extremely damaging for polar bears. Not only would direct contact with spilled oil kill them, but an invisible threat could persist for years, as toxic substances lingering in ice or seawater may have an impact on the entire Arctic ecosystem. The use of underwater seismic testing could also affect communication between beluga whales, other cetaceans and pinnipeds.