Suit seeks ban on oil companies disturbing wildlife

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Two environmental groups on Tuesday filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn new federal regulations that grants permission to oil companies working in the Chukchi Sea to disturb the polar bears and walrus that live there.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, challenges regulations issued last month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that allow "incidental takes" of the animals, meaning permission to disturb or accidentally harass them as long as such actions do not result in physical injury or death.

Tuesday's lawsuit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Environment, is the latest volley in legal challenges over protections for polar bears and other animals from expanded oil development in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off Alaska.

"It may seem like we're filing a lot of lawsuits," said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director for the center.

"But the fundamental thing is they're all really focusing on the same fundamental issue, which is protecting polar bear habitat in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas."

A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service declined to comment on Tuesday's lawsuit but defended the incidental-take regulations, which are meant to be in effect for five years.

"We believe that the incidental-take regulations are a valuable conservation tool," said Bruce Woods, spokesman for the service's Alaska headquarters.

Polar bears were listed in May as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and a petition is pending that would give similar protections to the Pacific walrus.