Stop Trump's New Assault on Struggling Arctic Polar Bears

Big Oil is helping melt the Arctic ice polar bears need to survive. Now the Trump administration is clearing the way for oil companies to kill them, too.

It's a devastating double assault on one of the planet's most iconic species — and yet another outrageous giveaway to the fossil fuel industry from this administration.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finalized a rule allowing oil and gas companies operating in Alaska's Beaufort Sea region to obtain authorization to unintentionally harm or kill protected polar bears and Pacific walruses through 2031.

The industry fueling the climate crisis is getting legal cover for harming and killing its victims.

Polar bears are already fighting for survival as rising temperatures destroy their sea ice habitat. They depend on that ice to hunt seals, travel, and raise their young. Images of starving polar bears have become a heartbreaking symbol of what's at stake.

As the Arctic warms, bears must travel farther for food, spend more time on land, and struggle to survive in an increasingly hostile environment.

Now add oil rigs, industrial noise, heavy machinery, and expanding fossil fuel operations.

These activities can disturb mothers in their dens, endanger vulnerable cubs, and expose bears to potentially deadly encounters with industrial equipment.

And the Trump administration's answer? Make it easier for oil companies to obtain permission for the resulting harm.

This is climate injustice in its cruelest form.

Fossil fuel pollution is destroying the Arctic. Instead of confronting that crisis, the administration is protecting the industry's ability to operate in the habitat of the animals suffering its consequences.

Polar bears cannot survive on oil industry promises. They need sea ice, protected habitat, and a government willing to put their survival ahead of fossil fuel profits.

Tell Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: Stop giving Big Oil legal cover to harm polar bears. Withdraw this rule and protect the Arctic.

The petition to Secretary Burgum reads: Withdraw the Beaufort Sea incidental take regulations that allow oil and gas companies to obtain authorization for the unintentional killing of polar bears and Pacific walruses. Strengthen protections for Arctic wildlife, reject further fossil fuel expansion in vulnerable habitats, and prioritize meaningful climate action over oil industry profits.
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https://news.bgov.com/privacy-and-data-security/trump-permits-incidental-polar-bear-kills-in-alaska-oil-region