Canada's decision to open bidding for the rights to drill in the northern Beaufort Sea will destroy a large area of critical polar bear habitat and put the animal's future in danger, the World Wildlife Foundation said Thursday.
"These are areas where polar bears and bowhead whales and beluga whales and who knows what else call home," Dr. Peter Ewins, WWF Canada's director, told CTV.ca on Thursday. "Clearly these areas are important, perhaps critical, habitat for the pressured polar bears."
The rights to oil and gas exploration on more than 2.9 million acres of continental shelf in the Beaufort Sea, north of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, were recently offered up by the Canadian government. Bids will be accepted until June 2, when the rights will be issued.
On Wednesday, the U.S. government began selling similar property in Alaska. More than $2.6 billion was offered for the purchase of 2.7 million acres of the continental shelf in the Chukchi Sea.
In the next few days, the U.S. is expected to decide whether to add polar bears to its Endangered Species Act -- a decision Ewins said was postponed in order to give the U.S. government time to sell more land.
Ewins said the Beaufort and Chukchi seas are the "last conventional oil and gas frontiers" left for development.
The governments are rushing to open oil drilling now because they will not be allowed to if the polar bear is declared endangered, he said.
"They're trying to sneak in as many of these oil and gas sales as possible before the polar bear gets listed as threatened," he said.
If the polar bear is listed as threatened, the onus would be on a developer to ensure their actions do not interfere with the animal's habitat.
With polar bears on the verge of being placed on the endangered species list, Ewins said this could be the tipping point.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada is currently assessing the animal's status and will announce its decision in April.
If they deem it a threatened species, Species at Risk will have a 180-day window to develop recovery plans. Those plans could include habitat protection in the Beaufort Sea.
Ewins said it would be too late to stop any sales completed on June 2 -- possibly worth more than $2 billion to the federal government.
"It's great if you're the finance minister, but not so good if you're interested in polar bears, like most Canadians are," he said.
Critics say the government should wait for reports on the polar bear's health before letting gas companies into their habitat.
Meanwhile, Manitoba declared that the polar bear was an endangered species in the province on Thursday.
Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said Manitoba's government would protect polar bear habitat in the province and continue combat climate change.
"We must continue to take action to protect one of our province's most unique species which is clearly being affected by climate change," said Struthers.
