Arctic Slope corporation joins polar bear lawsuit

TAMAR BEN-YOSEF

July 10, 2008 at 10:37AM AKST

The Arctic Slope Regional Corp. and former president Jacob Adams have separately filed requests on Wednesday, July 2, to intervene in a polar bear lawsuit on behalf of Inupiat shareholders.

The lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council against Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne claims that Kempthorne violated the listing provisions of the Endangered Species Act by listing the bears as threatened rather than endangered.

The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

If the parties’ motion to intervene were allowed, ASRC and Adams would be granted standing and would have an opportunity to address the concerns of the corporation and its shareholders during a hearing scheduled for Aug. 14 in Oakland, Calif.

“(The plaintiffs) are trying to circumvent the legislative processes that are in place to create climate change policy through the court,” said Tara Sweeney, ASRC vice president of external affairs.

The corporation said that listing the bears as endangered ultimately places restrictions on Arctic activities that have not caused climate change or had a measurable effect on the bears.

“Polar bears den across the North Slope. Listing them as endangered will impact road extensions, the back road connecting to NARL, building new playgrounds,” she said.

“ASRC shareholders are the indigenous people of Alaska’s North Slope and share the same environment with the polar bears,” Sweeney said. “Any decisions made in response to the polar bear suit will directly impact the communities of many ASRC shareholders.”

Claims made by the center regarding suffering due to loss of aesthetic, recreational or spiritual value are particularly disconcerting to Sweeney.

“Without the substantial protections of the ESA, polar bears are more likely to continue to decline and become extinct,” according to the complaint.

“Aesthetics and benefit have greater value than the livelihood of our people,” Sweeney said.

The corporation said the lawsuit could have a dire effect on every resource and economic development project on the North Slope of Alaska and could impact the rest of the country in a variety of ways.

Adams filed a motion to intervene as well, in support of ASRC’s request.

Adams filed the documents in his own name and said development must continue for the benefit of both Alaskans and the Inupiaq residents of the North Slope.

“ASRC has a number of interests that would be directly and negatively impacted by a decision ... ordering that polar bears be listed as endangered,” Adams said in the complaint.

Adams listed lost jobs and lost contracting opportunities to ASRC shareholders and possible lost production of oil and gas from ASRC’s lands.

Adams also said that listing the bears would prevent residents of the North Slope from protecting essential private property through the use of nonlethal deterrents against polar bears.

“ASRC is in a unique position to provide useful information to the court,” Adams said.

As the only rural residents who regularly interact with polar bears, ASRC and its shareholders are perhaps the only parties to this litigation that can see the dispute from both sides, Adams said.

The ASRC senior leadership team, with support from the ASRC board of directors, made the decision to intervene in the lawsuit.

“The potential reach of this case extends well beyond our home on Alaska’s North Slope. Every industry in America that produces carbon emissions could potentially be affected by this suit. From power plants in Ohio to small refineries in Wyoming, the decisions made on polar bears today could have a profound impact on the U.S. economy,” Sweeney said.

“While we recognize the need to defend our backyard, it is important for Americans to realize how this will impact their daily lives too.”

Tamar Ben-Yosef can be reached at (907) 348-2419 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 419.