Whale Protection Increased Despite Sarah Palin’s Protests

Whales 1, Sarah Palin 0.  While the Republican vice presidential nominee has been railing against increased measures to protect Beluga whales that live in the Cook Inlet of Alaska, her objections failed to keep the federal government from putting the whales on the endangered species list.  Palin’s administration has opposed the Beluga listing because of its potential to restrict offshore oil and gas drilling.

From The New York Times:

The relatively small, whitish whales, sometimes visible from downtown Anchorage, declined by almost 50 percent in the late 1990s, and federal scientists say they have not rebounded despite a series of protections, including a halt to subsistence hunting by Alaska Natives. About 375 whales have been counted in Cook Inlet each of the last two years, according to scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The announcement, made on a predetermined schedule under the Endangered Species Act, drew further attention to Ms. Palin’s positions on environmental issues. The governor, the Republican nominee for vice president, has come under scrutiny for her ambiguous statements about climate change and her administration’s failed effort earlier this year to prevent another species, the polar bear, from being listed as threatened. The state is suing the federal government over the polar bear listing.

The fisheries agency says that the Beluga whale population has been threatened by general development, pollution and oil and gas exploration.  So, for now, these whales may be saved from the brink of extinction – no thanks to Sarah Palin, running mate to so-called ‘environmental advocate’ John McCain.

Link [The New York Times]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

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