Coincidence NOT

So everybody of authority or those blinded by the right are in awe that a baby polar bear has been rescued from the North Slope oil patch and zoo keepers are in the process of finding this recently born youngster a new home, for now it means city life at the Anchorage Zoo. Pathetic this awe! Pathetic this excitement! Pathetic the authorities that see this as useful advertisement with a happy ending! As it is more of the same “shock & awe” in my book, basically inaction that is nothing short a blitzkrieg attack on peacefulness, a zealous attack on nature. Interference has got to be man’s greatest evil. I used to be an avid Alaskan oil field worker, but that career fell short its glory and thus, allowed me to advance intellectually wherein now I am a strong conservationist. I guess evolution does work! And I have all the proof in the world to support my “conservationist's” attitude, especially targeting the North Slope Armageddon. What I have witnessed recently in the “patch” is a whole different mindset that is set on tearing apart what required many years to foster, wherein there existed some semblance of care and respect towards the Mother Earth and the natural inhabitants, including polar bears, the focus of attention was clear - all throughout the Prudhoe Bay oil field domain and 800-miles down the Trans-Alaskan-Pipeline. And the EXXON Valdez was no accident, so don’t blame the oil workers, or captain Hazelwood either. “Things are different today, I hear every mother say”! Just ask the sow! This polar bear rescue making headline news should never have been allowed to occur. It was caused by disruption from the new players on the leasing block, namely the “Independents”, outside corporations – some of foreign background - that have found a place to explore and exploit the “black gold” without the slightest regard for the environment. Because nobody is watching! Because nobody is doing their jobs! It has become a hands off, turn thy head, blindfolded we go affair. Talk about the hen house being raided! The bureaucrats have put up an “Open For Rape” sign at this state’s front door. The Arctic is doomed. May as well “nuke” the Arctic Ocean to get rid of the ice pack, to make way for unadulterated abuse just so Alaskans can continue to enjoy welfare - a.k.a. PFD. If some of our representatives had it their way, the “nukes” would have already been called into action. Remember, it is a waste land - according to Ted Stevens - so what’s the problem with a little more messy waste? Now the polar bear cub was found separated from its mom, in close proximity to the Alpine oil production facility, which is located in the Colville River delta. Wow! This is God’s country. Man has no permission to descend upon this area with giant drilling rigs, there is no justification to ruin this place. Now the fact that a polar bear is missing its mom is cause for concern. It is just not an anomaly, an aberration. See, a few weeks ago, there was a similar incident. Something is causing nature to go upset, and it is because of mankind’s interference and trespass. Over at Oliktok Pt., the ENI operators were surprised to wake another sow denning with a cub on Spy Island. Two incidents in less than three weeks time, this is no coincidence and is proof that this new age oil development is disrupting tranquility. The fact that the cub was orphaned, it is something that should be taken seriously and investigated. Something out of the ordinary caused this event, and it is not global warming. And the fact that ENI may have been operating in an area without a polar bear infra-red survey, this goes to show that oil development is causing undue harm to the polar bear population. This area is well known for its good habitat for denning. The fact that ENI did not realize there was a denning white bear with cub on the island – a man-made Alcatraz that will soon be the site of a gigantic and noisy drilling rig come fall, it is inexcusable. The permit to operate requires the operator to make sure there is no denning within a mile of man-made activities, through surveys, and if a den is found – from heat radiated by mom keeping her babies warm through a brutal winter – it is supposed to be off limits to all activity. Had they performed the necessary survey and found the den early on, it would have presented a dilemma with their plan of attack, to have a drilling rig placed on the island this season. See, it would have meant a delay and that equates to a delay in oil sent down the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline which means a delay in income for the state. The entire health and well-being of the North Slope is now tied to income. When that priority enters the equation of greed, it dooms everything else. What is going on in the oil patch to fill the void is sinful. And the way other “Independents” in this same area are running their operations without any oversight, of course the polar bear population will suffer. What do I mean “no oversight”? Fact of the matter is this. The state wants oil, at any expense, to fill the void in the Trans-Alaska-Pipeline. So it means turning away from any kind of oversight that could dampen enthusiasm to develop oil where no oil has been developed before. And that means going into pristine areas, were once not too long ago polar bears reigned above the nuisance of man and drilling rigs. So in ending, it is time for a moratorium, time to refocus our attention on ANWR, time to expand protection to all coastal areas, as we can no longer trust the bureaucracy. If not, we will loose in the end, as when polar bears begin to show signs of frustration and forced to abandon their security, abandon their young, there is a deeper problem that is brewing down below and the doomsday clock has run out of time. Support a moratorium on near-shore and off-shore oil exploration on Alaska's northern coastline, as it is getting too late and nature can no longer defend for itself against these “Independents”!