Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Our friends over at PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, have released internal e-mails from the Department of Interior exposing more of the Bush administration’s shenanigans.
On January 24, Peer told us the Interior Department “Purged Scientific Concerns” about the introduction of invasive species into Arctic waters that would be brought in if offshore drilling was allowed to take place.
On January 29, The United States Department of Interior’s Office of the Solicitor requested PEER “immediately cease your unauthorized publication of [these] privileged communications and return them to MMS, along with any other MMS communications or documents in your possession that MMS has not authorized for disclosure.”
According to the Office of the Solicitor “MMS has a vital interest in protecting internal communications, the release of which would stifle the full and frank internal debate that fosters good government decision making.”
Protecting internal communications appears to be a euphemism for the outright ban on informing the public of the truth. The tax payers of the U.S. pay the wages of all federal employees from the President down to the local dog catchers. To ban from the public information they have, in fact, paid to have compiled is unscrupulous.
January 21, PEER’s news release, “INTERIOR STIFLES POLAR BEAR PROTECTIONS FROM ARCTIC DRILLING”, exposes the truth behind the delay in listing the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.
Bush’s energy policy may be failing the Arctic, its waters and its inhabitants, but it could be a resounding success for the energy industries. Oil drilling, liquefied natural gas facilities, year-round tanker traffic and the employment of ice breakers to keep it all moving year round flies in the face of environmental responsibility.
These things and the entire accompaniment required to accomplish them are paving the way for untold tons of pollution to be spewed into the air and waters of the Arctic.
The most invasive of species being brought into the region is man and everything he needs to sustain himself. How long before housing, fast food chains and drive thru auto-lube garages begin to litter the landscape?
PEER is the point of the spear.
Photo thanks: MSNBC/John Tidwell
Labels: Arctic, Department of Interior, Oil Drilling, PEER, Polar Bear
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
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