WWF: fighting to protect the Arctic (above)
WWF slams Arctic spill management
Governments and industry in the Arctic would be unable to effectively manage a large oil spill two decades after the Exxon Valdez oil spill devastated a vast stretch of the Alaskan coast, according to a new report by World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
As the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez spill approaches on 24 March, WWF renewed its call for a time-out on new offshore oil developments in the Arctic until technologies improve to ensure adequate clean-up of an oil spill.
WWF is also calling on the Obama administration to permanently protect Alaska’s fish-rich Bristol Bay from drilling.
The report, called Lessons Not Learned, finds that while practices have improved in Prince William Sound, where the Exxon Valdez spill occurred, oil spill response capabilities throughout the Arctic have improved little in the past 20 years.
WWF also recommends that the most vulnerable and important areas of the Arctic be deemed permanently off-limits to oil and gas development.
These areas include Bristol Bay in the south-eastern Bering Sea in Alaska, known as “America’s fish basket”, where more than 40% of all wild seafood is caught in the US.
WWF said that oil and gas development in the bay is estimated to bring $7.7 billion over the 25 to 40 year project life, while by comparison, the renewable fisheries of the Bristol Bay region are valued at $50 billion to $80 billion over the same period.