“Oil and gas development in the Arctic’s Polar Bears Seas must be put on hold until the Bush administration decides what level of protection polar bears deserve,” said Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe. “Only after deciding what level of protection polar bears warrant can informed decisions be made about how, where and when oil and gas development might go forward in polar bear habitat. The administration has been trying its hardest to put the cart before the horse by authorizing oil and gas development activities in prime polar bear habitat while ignoring the plight of the polar bear.”"We applaud the action of the federal district court ordering the federal government to decide on Endangered Species protections for polar bears which are seeing the ice upon which they depend disappear. Earthjustice is proceeding with a separate lawsuit challenging the Bush administration’s sale of oil and gas development rights in the Chukchi Sea, a prime polar bear area.”

The Beaufort and Chukchi Seas are the two seas north of Alaska that make up the Polar Bear Seas of the Arctic Ocean.

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