The Obama administration is considering leasing the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas – the Polar Bear Seas – for oil drilling. Doing so would have a disastrous impact on the whales that depend on the Arctic Ocean for mating and feeding.

Take action now to protect beluga, bowhead and grey whales from the dangers of oil drilling by sending a message to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Right now, NOAA's scientists are studying the potential impacts of oil drilling. If they give a green light, drilling would almost certainly start this summer. But they can also stop this drilling by calling attention to the real damage that oil drilling would do to the marine wildlife of the Polar Bear Seas.

You already know that an oil spill in the Polar Bear Seas would be a catastrophic disaster, because we don't have the equipment to clean it up – and the Arctic is in complete darkness for 3 months out of the year.

Tell the NOAA and the Obama administration that oil drilling is just too risky for a fragile wild place like the Polar Bear Seas.

But even before a spill, the noise pollution from oil ships and drills would be extremely disruptive to whales' ability to mate and feed. Grey whales, for instance, travel 10,000 miles every year from Baja California to the Polar Bear Seas to eat. Noise pollution disrupts their ability to locate the food they need to travel long distances and birth young – and turning the Polar Bear seas into an industrial zone would create unprecedented noise pollution in this wild place.

We can protect the whales of the Polar Bear Seas. Tell NOAA to recommend against drilling in America’s Arctic Ocean.

Thank you for all that you do for our wildlife and wild places.

Dan Ritzman,
Sierra Club Arctic Campaign Director