OTTAWA (AFP) — The World Wildlife Fund on Tuesday urged Canada to postpone the sale of oil and gas rights in the Beaufort Sea, worried the drilling areas would overlap with key Arctic habitat for polar bears and whales.
"This sale is premature due to the absence of a completed Beaufort Sea management plan that would protect sensitive habitats, which polar bears, beluga and bowhead whales need for their survival," Peter Ewins, director of species conservation at WWF-Canada, said in a statement.
"In addition, there is no proven technique for recovering oil spills in such dangerous iced waters."
As such, the proposed June 2 sale must be delayed until a proper management plan for the Arctic region is in place, the group said.
Alternately, an expedited environmental assessment for the region, with guarantees that oil spills could be quickly and easily mopped up, would satisfy both environmentalists and energy firms, it said.
The Beaufort Sea lies west of Canada's Northwest Territories and north of Alaska.
Two weeks ago the US government listed polar bears as a threatened species owing to a drastic reduction in Arctic sea ice, but insisted the step did not mark a policy shift to attack global warming.
US officials stressed there would be no halt to oil and gas drilling in the bears' frozen habitat including the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, where the US government this year has sold new leases for oil and gas production.
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