Monday
Sep212009
Environmentalists Shower Salazar With Salmon
Monday, September 21, 2009 at 6:27PM
by Julianne LaJeunesse- University of New Mexico
Alaska conservationists, the World Wildlife Fund and hungry passerbys munched on free Alaskan salmon, shipped to the Nation's Capital by the WWF as a token of gratitude, outside the Department of the Interior on Monday. The gesture marked the end of the 180-day public comment period on oil and gas development proposals in parts of the Arctic Ocean and Bristol Bay, Alaska.
The WWF, Alaska Wildnerness League, the Wilderness Society, and Native Village of Point Hope came to Washington to deliver over 250, 000 letters addressed to Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar and President Obama. The letters from Alaska natives, non-natives and young and old people alike, ask for more time and scientific study before any plans to extract oil in the state are allowed.
Last Thursday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he wouldn't make a rushed decision on offshore drilling in Alaska and other states, and noted that the department still has three years to come up with another plan for drilling the Outer Continental Shelf.
"Whether we take that long or not is something we'll decide based on the information we collected and the analysis that's been done during this period," he said. "I haven't yet reached a decision yet on what the next steps are going to be."
A Department of Interior staff member accepted the letters on behalf of Sec. Salazar, saying he had no comment to make. The staff member also declined offers of salmon, fish which WWF Senior Vice President of Field Programs Tom Dillon said could be tainted if Bristol Bay and the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska are drilled.
"Most of us eat wild-caught salmon, Dillon said. We buy it at our grocery stores and people don't really know where it's from. Well, most of it's from Bristol Bay. This huge bay in Alaska that has about 32 million salmon come in every summer from the ocean. And it is threatened now by the potential oil and gas drilling, which if it were to occur, would endanger this entire salmon run, as well as the other important fisheries there."
Dillon added that according to WWF numbers, Bristol Bay would be more economically sound as a fish exporter than an oil industry.
Alaska conservationists, the World Wildlife Fund and hungry passerbys munched on free Alaskan salmon, shipped to the Nation's Capital by the WWF as a token of gratitude, outside the Department of the Interior on Monday. The gesture marked the end of the 180-day public comment period on oil and gas development proposals in parts of the Arctic Ocean and Bristol Bay, Alaska.
The WWF, Alaska Wildnerness League, the Wilderness Society, and Native Village of Point Hope came to Washington to deliver over 250, 000 letters addressed to Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar and President Obama. The letters from Alaska natives, non-natives and young and old people alike, ask for more time and scientific study before any plans to extract oil in the state are allowed.
Last Thursday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he wouldn't make a rushed decision on offshore drilling in Alaska and other states, and noted that the department still has three years to come up with another plan for drilling the Outer Continental Shelf.
"Whether we take that long or not is something we'll decide based on the information we collected and the analysis that's been done during this period," he said. "I haven't yet reached a decision yet on what the next steps are going to be."
A Department of Interior staff member accepted the letters on behalf of Sec. Salazar, saying he had no comment to make. The staff member also declined offers of salmon, fish which WWF Senior Vice President of Field Programs Tom Dillon said could be tainted if Bristol Bay and the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska are drilled.
"Most of us eat wild-caught salmon, Dillon said. We buy it at our grocery stores and people don't really know where it's from. Well, most of it's from Bristol Bay. This huge bay in Alaska that has about 32 million salmon come in every summer from the ocean. And it is threatened now by the potential oil and gas drilling, which if it were to occur, would endanger this entire salmon run, as well as the other important fisheries there."
Dillon added that according to WWF numbers, Bristol Bay would be more economically sound as a fish exporter than an oil industry.
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