US Censors Arctic Scientists’ Findings as it Prepares for Oil and Gas Auction

The United States has blocked the release of a landmark assessment of oil and gas activity in the Arctic as it prepares to sell off exploration licences for the frozen Chukchi Sea off Alaska, one of the last intact habitats of the polar bear.

Scientists at the release of the censored report in Norway said there was “huge frustration” that the US had derailed a science-based effort to manage the race for the vast energy reserves of the Arctic.

Speaking yesterday from Tromso, one of the report’s lead authors, who asked not to be named, said: “They [the US] have blocked it. We have no executive summary and no plain language conclusions.”

“For a polar bear population already stressed due to massive climate change, these activities could be the last straw,” said Kassie Siegel, the climate director at the US-based Centre for Biological Diversity.