What are the potential impacts of offshore drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas?
Offshore oil development directly harms polar bears and Pacific walrus in numerous ways, including disturbance by vessels, aircraft, and drilling platforms, impacts on walrus and the seals that bears prey upon from seismic surveys, and the risk of oil spills. There are no proven technologies for cleaning up an oil spill in the icy waters of the Arctic. A large spill, estimated by the Department of the Interior as having a 40-percent chance of occurring as a result of proposed development in the Chukchi Sea, would be catastrophic for polar bears and Pacific walrus. Oil spills and disturbances to whale populations would destroy the subsistence lifestyles of Alaska Native communities that have been living along the coast of Alaskas Arctic for thousands of years.
