The Trump administration is weighing allowing oil and gas operators in northern Alaska to disturb — and in limited cases kill — protected polar bears and Pacific walruses as part of routine energy production.
The Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday published a proposed rule and draft environmental review that would update permits for energy companies in the Alaska oil region to unintentionally scare and disturb the protected species while conducting operations like drilling, transporting oil and conducting seismic tests.
Neither the oil industry nor the federal agency anticipates bear or walrus deaths from energy activity. But under the proposal, FWS could allow lethal impacts to animals in a departure from previous permits that allowed operators to disturb protected species on the North Slope but not kill them.
If approved, the permit would last for five years, protecting energy companies from liability for accidentally impacting protected animals during routine drilling and production of hydrocarbons in the state’s prolific North Slope oil fields and adjacent waters. The rule, part of regular oil and gas activity in Alaska, comes as the Trump administration has sought to boost oil activity in the northern state and slash regulations that burden operators.
