Green groups call for Senate inquiry into missing Arctic reports
In a letter to Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee; Sen. Jim Jeffords, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Rep. James Hansen, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, the organizations pointed to recent news reports that have raised serious questions about whether Congress has been fully informed on the issue now before the Senate.
The letter was signed by Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, Friends of the Earth, National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and The Wilderness Society.
The Washington Post reported today that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has warned in two internal reports that opening the Arctic refuge to oil development might violate an international agreement to protect polar bears. But the Post said those reports have never reached Congress.
"During the current heated debate in Congress over the future of the Arctic refuge, it is imperative for lawmakers and the public to have all the facts and a transparent process for evaluating the science. Yet this critical biological data still appears not to have been provided to Congress," the letter from the environmental organizations said.
Late last week, four of these environmental organizations, including Defenders of Wildlife, asked the Senate to look into discrepancies in testimony given by Interior Secretary Gale Norton about the legislative proposal to drill for oil in the Arctic refuge. Norton has drawn criticism for Senate committee testimony in which she left out scientific data from the Fish and Wildlife Service showing that drilling would harm caribou.
The Washington Post reported that Norton also added erroneous data that would have bolstered the case for drilling if it had been true.
"These discrepancies raise serious questions regarding the scientific integrity of the Department's answers, and the process by which these answers were developed within the Department," the environmental organizations said in their letter to Lieberman, Jeffords and Hansen.
Defenders Vice President Robert Dewey said: "It appears that when Secretary Norton says policy will be based on sound science, she really means science that sounds good to her. Members of Congress need the Secretary of the Interior to play straight with them on polar bears, caribou and other wildlife that would be harmed by drilling in the refuge, and it’s not clear that she is."
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Defenders of Wildlife is a leading non-profit conservation organization recognized as one of the nation's most progressive advocates for wildlife and its habitat. With more than 470,000 members and supporters, Defenders of Wildlife is an effective leader on endangered species issues.
Contact(s):
Cat Lazaroff, (202) 772-3270