Washington (Platts)--29Dec2008

The Bush administration plans to announce Tuesday that it will not extend
Endangered Species Act protections to a arctic seal that lives in the oil- and
gas-rich Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

In a Federal Register notice, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration said the ribbon seal likely would face a population reduction
in coming years because of a decline in Arctic sea ice, but that did not put
it in danger of extinction.

After a legal battle with environmentalists, the US Department of the
Interior earlier this year listed the polar bear as a threatened species based
on forecasts of declining Arctic sea ice. A 2007 US Geological Survey report
concluded that two-thirds of Arctic sea ice could be gone by 2050.

According to NOAA -- which is charged with making endangered species
decisions on marine mammals through its National Marine Fisheries Service --
the seal will be able to survive in other areas even if sea ice declines on
the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

"Our scientists have reviewed climate models that project that annual
ice, which is critical for ribbon seal reproduction, molting and resting, will
continue to form each winter in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, where
the majority of ribbon seals are located," said Jim Balsiger, NOAA's acting
assistant administrator for fisheries.

Ribbon seal pups are born on the sea ice and rely on it for several
weeks, until they are large enough to travel long distances in Arctic waters.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the original petition
leading to last week's decision, criticized the Bush administration's
decision.

"The denial of protection for the ribbon seal ignores the science on
global warming and ignores the law. We are confident it will be overturned by
either the courts or the new administration," said Brendan Cummings, oceans
program director at CBD. President-elect Barack Obama is scheduled to take
office on January 20.

Environmental groups have opposed oil and gas development in the Chukchi
and Beaufort seas because of concerns about potential harm to some threatened
or endangered species that rely on the seas for survival, including the
bowhead whale, the polar bear and several arctic seals.

That controversy already has interfered with energy exploration there,
including a $200-million exploration cruise Shell planned for 2009, but
cancelled after environmentalists challenged it in federal court.

--Derek Sands, derek_sands@platts.com