The waters of the Beaufort Sea, as well as the rich amount of biodiversity found there, are safe from men once again. The project would have involved the creation of an oil derrick as well as a gravel mine in the bay and many supporting installations. The Trump administration gave the project the 'OK' in 2018. The oil project on Foggy Island Bay was instantly under scrutiny from officials in the area and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit denied the request on December 7th.
I’m pleased that the court today rejected the administration’s inaccurate and misleading analysis of this project’s impact [on] the climate. In the face of a worsening climate crisis, the federal government should not be in the business of approving irresponsible offshore oil development in the Arctic," said ” Jeremy Lieb, Earth Justice attorney, in a statement from the Center for Biological Diversity after the decision had been made. This announcement means huge success for climate change activists around the world.
Foggy Island Bay is home to polar bears, several species of whales, seals, sea lions, sea otters, seabirds, fish, and Pacific walruses. The environmental impact would be too overwhelmingly negative to justify the 120 million barrels of oil extracted from the area, so the project proposal was ultimately shot down. Additionally, some of the extraction would violate the Endangered Species Act protections. For now, the polar bears and seals up on Foggy Island Bay can relax a little while longer...