Environmentalism run wild.

Inupiats file suit against broad designation of polar bear critical habitat in Arctic By Tim Bradner Alaska Journal of Commerce A coalition of Alaska Inupiat Eskimo people filed suit May 13 against the U.S. Department of the Interior over the agency's designation of more than 187,000 square miles of critical habitat for polar bears across a wide area of the North Slope. It is the third legal challenge filed against the habitat designation. Earlier this year lawsuits were filed in federal court by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association and the state of Alaska. "The Alaska Native community has long been a key partner in the effort to maintain a healthy population of polar bears along the North Slope. It's disappointing to see our input and our insight, including our legitimate concerns, disregarded by the federal government," said Rex Rock Sr., president of Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the Alaska Native regional corporation for the people of Northern Alaska. ASRC is the lead plaintiff in the case, which was filed in a U.S. District Court in Alaska. Joining ASRC as co-plaintiffs are the North Slope Borough, the regional government for the Arctic Slope, six village corporations from small coastal Inupiat communities and two Native regional corporations in Northwest Alaska, NANA Regional Corp. of Kotzebue and Bering Straits Regional Corp. of Nome. The Native groups contend that the protections from critical habitat designations will impair economic development activity, such as oil and gas, which help sustain the state and regional economies, without greatly helping the polar bears, which are endangered mainly by climate change effects. The three suits make arguments from the standpoint of how the particular plaintiffs are affected, but all three make similar arguments in contesting the sheer size of the habitat designations and that the economic effects on the state and nation are vastly understated, said Marilyn Crockett, executive director of the oil and gas association. "My biggest concern is how this will affect our communities and economies," said North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta. "Ordinary community development is at risk from this designation, and the polar bears aren't helped by it in any way. The problem is receding sea ice. The only thing this designation accomplishes is to create another threatened species, the people who live there." Inupiat Eskimos are sensitive to additional federal restrictions on land and sea access and use, including for hunting. Oil and gas companies working in the Arctic are not as concerned because many of the protections required by the habitat designation are already required by other federal laws and regulations.