The Bush administration is proposing to issue a blanket, five-year authorization to the oil industry to harass polar bears and Pacific walrus in the currently undeveloped Chukchi Sea off Alaska. Both the polar bear and Pacific walrus are imperiled by global warming, yet the administration's only management response is to open up their sensitive habitats to oil development.

The Chukchi Sea is the stronghold for the Pacific walrus and home to one of only two polar bear populations in all of Alaska. But the Bush government plans to lease areas of the Chukchi Sea for oil development early next year, and oil leasing cannot occur without exploration activities that threaten to crush denning polar bears and their cubs, as well as harm walrus with seismic blasts, drill ships, ice-breakers, and the ever-present threat of oil spills.

Please let the Bush administration know that you support the protection of polar bear and Pacific walrus habitat in the Chukchi Sea.