Kristine’s Inner Circle

They’re BACK …

The same company that just brought you the most catastrophic oil spill in American history is now planning a risky new project that would use untested drilling technology in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea — the heart of America’s polar bear habitat.

BP’s so-called Liberty Project would use the biggest rig in the world — propped up by a manmade gravel island three miles from shore – to drill up to eight miles horizontally, exposing pipes to the same kind of explosive “gas kicks” that led to the blowout in the Gulf.

In other words, this latest BP project is a disaster waiting to happen!

Please help stop it by signing this urgent Petition of Protest to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

You might have thought BP would lay low after the Gulf disaster: focusing on the cleanup effort and repairing its dismal environmental record.

Instead, the company is planning to begin drilling this fall in one of the two Polar Bear Seas that are home to HALF of our nation’s polar bears.

Let me share a few facts about BP’s Liberty Project:

• Even though it’s three miles offshore, this project is NOT subject to President Obama’s moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic! That’s because the operation is built on a 31-acre manmade gravel island. In other words, BP is getting a free pass based on a technicality.
• BP is prepared to drill up to eight miles horizontally in search of oil, even though this type of drilling is even more prone to gas kicks like the one that caused the huge blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. In order to drill these unprecedented wells, BP has commissioned the building of the largest drilling rig in the world!
• Shockingly, BP was allowed to write its own environmental assessment and emergency response plan for the Liberty Project, just like it did in the Gulf. And we know what happened there.

The Obama Administration needs to make clear that the days of BP running the show are over.

Tell Secretary Salazar to stop the Liberty Project immediately by denying BP’s application to drill. He is unlikely to do that unless he hears a groundswell of public opposition — starting with you.

BP’s horrendous environmental record is well documented. It is already responsible for the 2010 Gulf disaster, the 2006 oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope (the largest oil spill to date in the region) and the 2005 Texas City explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 170 more.

We can’t afford a repeat performance in the Arctic. High winds, freezing temperatures and dangerous sea ice could make cleanup impossible. The nearest Coast Guard station is over 1,000 miles away, and much of the oil spill response equipment on-site is more than two decades old!

Tell Secretary Salazar to prevent a disaster on ice by saying No to BP.

Sincerely,

Peter Lehner
Executive Director
Natural Resources Defense Council

The fragile ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico are soon to be covered in oil from the Deepwater Horizon drilling accident and ensuing spill, and now is the time to call on President Obama to put a stop to future drilling efforts.

In addition to the harm from catastrophic spills, offshore oil drilling creates deadly oil and tar balls that float in the ocean and are ingested by sea turtles, and increased vessel traffic which causes deadly strikes. Read the summary by Dr. Chris Pincetich, marine biologist and environmental toxicologist.

 Bring Back the Moratorium on Offshore Drilling

Help reverse the Bush administration’s removal of the U.S. moratorium on offshore drilling that has led to the horrible environmental disaster in the Gulf that we face today.

Send the Obama administration a direct email below to stop offshore oil drilling and help endangered sea turtle recovery

NOTE: the Obama web form may load slowly, select “Environment” from the drop-down menu and wait for “Recaptura Field” security image to appear.

 Click Here To Take Action

PHOTO: A loggerhead sea turtle caught in the Gulf oil slick, courtesy of Nicole Bengiveno, New York Times.

Eleven human deaths. [1] Dead sea turtles and fish washed ashore. [2] Whales swimming through oily, toxic waters, [3] poisoned as they surface for air. [4] And potentially billions of dollars lost to already-struggling fishing- and tourism-dependent communities along the Gulf Coast. [5]

Urge Obama to Restore the Ban on Offshore Drilling

Experts say at least 400 species of wildlife are threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Dead sea turtles have already been photographed on Mississippi’s beaches.

Please take action right now and urge President Obama to reverse the expansion of harmful drilling off our coasts. 

Help us send 50,000 messages to President Obama by Friday. Take action now…

Say “No!” to another drilling disaster! Urge President Obama to reinstate the ban on drilling for offshore oil and gas deposits off our coasts and revoke Shell Oil’s permits to drill in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas this summer.

Even as I write this, our staff experts are preparing to fly to the Gulf to document the impact of the spill on wildlife and advocate for the animals and habitat now imperiled by the spill. Defenders board member and world-famous wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin is already on the scene.

 

 

Whether you live on the Gulf Coast or elsewhere, this is a tremendous environmental emergency, and our Gulf Coast wildlife is going to need Jeff, our staff experts… and you.Please take action right now and urge President Obama to restore the presidential ban on harmful drilling off our coasts.    

At least 400 wildlife species (not counting micro-organisms) and 19 essential wildlife refuges – one of which hosted some 34,000 birds just days before the spill – are already threatened by the Gulf spill. [6]

And the remnants of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling operation continue to spew at least 5,000 barrels (more than 200,000 gallons) of toxic oil into the Gulf of Mexico each day… with no end in sight. [7]

For the Wild Ones, Worse, Big Oil and their political allies are tenacious, well-funded and committed to industrializing our coasts… even at the cost of another ecological disaster. As the Gulf Coast crisis continues to grow, drilling proponents like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (who should know better!) continued the call for more offshore drilling. [8]

Send your message to President Obama now: No more offshore oil disasters! 

For 27 years, a congressional ban on offshore drilling largely protected our coastal wildlife from offshore drilling disasters like this. But that all changed in 2008, when then-President George W. Bush rescinded the ban his father put in place after the Exxon Valdez tanker spill – and Congress quickly followed suit by lifting their own ban on drilling in certain areas.

President Obama – who just weeks ago called for more offshore drilling – has issued a temporary halt to drilling activities in new areas in the wake of the Deepwater disaster, granting a temporary reprieve to sensitive areas like North Carolina’s Outer Banks and the only known calving grounds for the North Atlantic right whales off the coast of Georgia and Florida. 

But the President has not yet said that he’ll stop drilling activities planned for this summer in Alaska’s pristine Chukchi and Beaufort Seas – home to polar bears, walrus, and bowhead whales.Now is the time to stop them… and protect our sea turtles, whales and other wildlife. Please take action right now.

 

Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife

Defending Wildlife

One month before the Deepwater Gulf oil disaster, President Obama called for more offshore drilling… and Defenders responded. We mobilized hundreds of conservationists along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts to testify against a proposal that could lead to more dangerous dirty drilling at public hearings. And today, we’ve delivered more than 47,000 comments from caring people like you urging the Department of Interior to abandon the plan altogether.

Notes

[1] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36732329/ns/us_news-environment/

[2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/02/dead-fish-sea-turtle-wash_n_560237.html

[3] http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/04/30/30greenwire-as-oil-slick-drifts-closer-resource-defenders-g-9775.html

[4] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20003738-503543.html

[5] http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-29/oil-spill-imperils-gulf-coast-fishing-industry-update1-.html

[6] http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/04/30/30greenwire-as-oil-slick-drifts-closer-resource-defenders-g-9775.html

[7] http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1986323,00.html

[8] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20003924-503544.html

 

 

Dear Friend,

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law banning interstate sale of graphic animal “crush” videos that show extreme forms of animal cruelty for the sexual titillation of viewers.

These grotesque videos involve the intentional crushing, drowning, burning, and impaling of kittens, puppies, rabbits, and other small animals, often by women in high heels.

Help make sure these horrific videos never see the light of day again — despite the Supreme Court decision.

Fortunately, outrage over the Supreme Court’s decision has spurred Congress to act again: Yesterday U.S. Representative Elton Gallegly (R-CA) and 56 other Representatives introduced H.R. 5092.

This legislation would provide the tools law enforcement needs to crack down on traffickers of cruel animal “crush” videos. Support our lobbying efforts to pass H.R. 5092 and other animal protection bills — please make a special gift today.

No one should be allowed to profit from these videos of women crushing small animals for the sexual gratification of others.

 Don’t allow this cruelty to happen any longer – please make a generous donation today to support our work to ban “crush” videos and protect animals from other forms of cruelty.

Thank you for all you do for animals!

 Sincerely,

Mike Markarian
President
Humane Society Legislative Fund