NWF Report: Wildlife Losing the Race Against Climate Disruption

                                                       (Photo: Larry Allen)

I find myself quite terrified when I'm comfortable wearing a t-shirt outside in Washington, D.C. in January, but I'm even more scared for those who lack the tools, like a simple wardrobe change, to adapt quickly to climate disruption. 

A new report released today by the National Wildlife Federation says animals are struggling to adapt to the climate chaos caused by the burning of fossil fuels and heating of our planet.

As the climate changes rapidly, habitats are being destroyed and many animals are left to die. In the past, animals have been able to adapt to changes in climate patterns, but now, the climate is changing at a much more rapid pace—faster than animals are able to respond.

Animals in the Arctic, like polar bears and walrus, are struggling to survive as sea ice melts and their required habitat disappears. Birds and butterflies have had to make significant changes to their breeding season and seasonal migrations. The same droughts and heat waves that burn our crops and limit our access to clean drinking water also wipe out fish by the thousands. Large-scale migrations to colder locations by many plant and wildlife species are happening faster than scientists ever anticipated—and climate disruption is to blame.

In many cases, plants and animals, the flora and fauna that make up America's beloved wild legacy, are unable to defend themselves from climate disruption. They surely won't be able to reduce the pollution that humans have created and that contribute to the warming of Earth's atmosphere, so that leaves it up to us to address this global threat.

We have the solutions right in front of us – all we need to do is muster up the courage to act. America can and should be a leader in the effort to wean the planet off of the dirty and outdated fossil fuels that are driving climate disruption. And all across the country, American innovation and ingenuity are helping continue our critical transition to clean energy.

This report serves as a reminder that the need for climate action is more dire now than ever before. We’ve seen the human impact after a year of severe weather, droughts, wildfires, and Superstorms.  And this report is further evidence the impact goes well beyond just humans.

Take a deeper dive into the report, and take action to address these challenges now.

--Dan Byrnes, Sierra Club Media Team

Grand Visions for Grand Canyon

We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing navigation.                                                                                                                                                       -Theodore Roosevelt

We often speak of Theodore Roosevelt as one of the greatest stewards of our public lands.  He was determined to see them protected for generations to come, and did so quite effectively.  Over the course of his presidency, Roosevelt created 5 national parks, 18 national monuments, and 150 National Forests. His fearless efforts protected approximately 230 million acres for all American’s to enjoy in perpetuity.  Roosevelt was also one of the nation’s greatest and most famous allies of the Grand Canyon.  It is he who protected the area first as a national monument in 1908. 

photo courtesy of Kim Crumbo

As we noted last week in our blog, President Obama hinted at a desire to establish his own conservation legacy in his recent inaugural address, and set forth a bold agenda and call to the nation to address climate change.

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.  We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. 

One of the Obama Administration’s great successes in the first term was the moratorium established on uranium mining around the Grand Canyon, helping to protect one of our nation’s most storied and recognizable landscapes.  Unfortunately, this moratorium is only temporary, and in order to protect this region permanently, we need bolder action.  Luckily, when it comes to restoring a comprehensive approach to protecting America’s public lands, President Obama has the power to act, an opportunity to lead, and four more years to establish a conservation legacy. 

In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.                                                                                                                                                                                    -Theodore Roosevelt

It was President Roosevelt who signed the Antiquities Act into law in 1906, granting the President of the United States the authority to protect public lands for the public good.  President Obama exercised his authority under the Antiquities Act four times in his first term, acting wisely to protect land all across America– and we urge him to use it again to protect one of our nation’s most treasured icons, the Grand Canyon. 

Like so many of our special places, the lands and waters of the Grand Canyon Watershed proposal define America’s history and provide unique cultural, archeological and environmental value, offering clean water, clean air, and access to the outdoors for hunting, hiking and other recreational activities.  In fact, active outdoor recreation – much of it tied to the Grand Canyon – supports about 82,000 jobs and produces almost $5 billion annually in retail sales and services across Arizona.  Americans wishing to experience the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon visit from across the country, bringing with them more than$685 million for the economy in northern Arizona each year—and supporting 12,000 jobs. 

We all know and love the Grand Canyon as an icon of America's majestic wild places. The surrounding area is equally stunning, home to arid deserts and old-growth pine forests, as well as animals that aren’t found anywhere else in the world.  Protecting this entire region is crucial to keeping the Grand Canyon healthy, thriving and a place to enjoy for generations to come.  That’s why we are urging President Obama to build a conservation legacy during his second term. Now is the time to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife dear to not just the generation of Theodore Roosevelt, but to our generation and generations to come.

Making Sage Grouse Part of Our Wildlife Restoration Success Stories

(Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

The United States is home to an abundance of wildlife.  However, this was not necessarily our destiny.  Market hunting for wildlife in the 1800s to feed logging and mining camps as well as city dwellers nearly drove many now common species to extinction.  It was very possible that we could be living in a country without Whitetail deer, without mallard ducks, without wild turkeys. But we do, and we are lucky to benefit from what is without a doubt, one of the greatest wildlife restoration success stories in the world.

The trends toward extinction were reversed with many tools, including the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Fund (WSFR). Dating back to 1937, the fund is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and utilizes money raised through an excise tax on firearms, ammunition, fishing tackle, boating fuel and other outdoor equipment to fund work to increase our scientific understanding of fish and wildlife and improve the habitat on which many species depend.

To date, over $45 billion has been raised, funding fish and wildlife conservation efforts in all 50 states. States agencies receive funds through a formula based on habitat and the number of paid hunting and fishing license holders, and then determine which conservation projects will be funded.

Among the species benefitting from WSFR is Greater sage grouse.  A candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act, sage grouse have declined by over 90% across their historic western range.  Due to their habitat needs, sage grouse are a good indicator of the sustainability of development and human activity, so their decline has become a cause of much concern across the West.

In Nevada, the state Division of Wildlife receives between $400,000 and $600,000 each year from WSFR, money that supports research, monitoring and habitat improvement projects for sage grouse.  Through 11 fire restoration projects, 14 brood rearing or nesting habitat improvements and 2 habitat protection projects, the Nevada Division of Wildlife has improved or secured 71,348 acres of habitat for sage grouse in that state with the help of WSFR funds.

In Idaho, WSFR money is supporting Idaho Fish and Game’s work with partners to restore nearly 32,000 acres of sage grouse habitat in the south of the state by removing invasive Utah junipers that are degrading grouse habitat.

Multiply these kinds of projects across the 11 Western States where sage grouse are found and multiply that again by additional conservation efforts by federal agencies, NGO’s and private landowners and there is a real chance that we might be able to save the sage grouse without listing it under the Endangered Species Act.  When we do, it will add another chapter to one of the greatest wildlife restoration stories in the world.

--Catherine Semcer, Senior Washington, D.C. Representative

A Bipartisan Effort to Preserve Washington's Wilderness

Proposed additions to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Along the Pratt River (Photo: Don Parks)

When the doors closed at the Capitol at the end of December, the 112^th Congress officially earned the inauspicious designation as the first Congress in nearly 50 years to fail to protect a single new acre of wilderness. For the first time in decades, our Representatives and Senators left our nation’s wild legacy behind. But, hopefully, new legislation and new efforts by members from both parties will ensure that is a mistake that is not repeated again.

This week, members of Washington State’s Congressional delegation reintroduced legislation that would help protect some of their state’s most prized wilderness and rivers. This bipartisan, bicameral effort was launched jointy by Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and Representatives Dave Reichert and Suzan DelBene. Their Alpine Lakes Wilderness Additions and Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie Rivers Protection Actwould add more than 22,000 acres of wilderness to the existing Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, and protect Washington’s Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie rivers under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. 

Beargrass grows in the Bandera Area, to be protected under new legislation (Photo: Harry Romberg)

These 22,000 acres of wilderness provide prime opportunities for Washingtonians and tourists alike to hike, camp, hunt and raft, while at the same time supporting a wide variety of wildlife, including deer, elk, trout, bobcats and bears. And all that recreational activity means new economic activity for surrounding communities, creating new jobs and new revenue.

First introduced in 2007 and almost passed in 2010, this bill is evidence that protecting our wild places is not a Democratic priority and not a Republican priority but an American priority. With bipartisan support, it offers both parties a chance to focus on their shared priorities and pass sensible legislation.

Congress can act now to ensure that this vital ecosystem of old-growth forests, snowy mountaintops, and pristine rivers is preserved for future generations to enjoy.  Turning this bill into law would prove that Congress has the ability to work together and preserve the legacy of Washington's treasured wilderness in the process. The inaction of the 112th Congress was a disappointment of historical proportions, but bipartisan, bicameral bills like these offer the 113th Congress the chance of a fresh, more productive start by restoring the longstanding traditions of cooperation and conservation.

--Devin Castles, Sierra Club Media Team

Obama’s Climate Legacy for Our Lands: Win-Win v. Double Whammy

Climate disruption serves up a double whammy when it comes to our public lands and America’s special places - though whammy is way too casual of word to describe the serious threats to our national parks, wilderness areas and endangered species from climate change.

Climate disruption will damage our wild places, and threaten native and iconic plants and animals - from forests and grasslands to sage grouse and polar bears – with extinction.  Increased wild fire, coastal flooding and other symptoms and signs of climate change would eliminate invaluable ecosystem services, putting communities and Americans around the country at risk.

The second whammy is caused by the drilling and mining of dirty fuels – in particular oil, gas and coal – that cause global climate change on public lands and off our coasts.  Banning new drilling and mining - including oil and gas, oil shale, tar sands, coal  and other dirty fuels - on our public lands and outer continental shelf would protect iconic places like the Arctic Refuge and National Parks AND keep these dirty fuels in the ground.

Last year, President Obama approved new fuel efficiency standards that represent the biggest single step taken by any President to cut climate-disrupting carbon pollution. But if we were to see all of the carbon in the Arctic burned, we would wipe out all the progress two times over. Keeping that oil and gas in the ground is better than burning it in our cars and pumping it into our air – and in our environment.  

Instead of being a double whammy to our public lands, fighting climate disruption would be a win – win for the Obama Administration – and America’s special places.   Using fewer fossil fuels would lessen the need to drill and mine our coasts and the America’s Arctic, and not burning dirty fuels would help fight climate disruption -- disruption that would damage landscapes, species, and wilderness areas.

And “win-win” sounds better than “double whammy,” too.

---Athan Manuel, Director, Sierra Club Lands Protection Program

Bold Second Term Opportunities for our National Treasures

On Monday, the President set forth a bold agenda in his Inaugural Address for his second term in front of a National Mall filled with supporters, including my own family.  From a more balanced approach to the public good and economy, to the end of wars abroad, to climate change and the protection of our national treasures, President Obama did not mince words, pull punches, or go gently into the night. 

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.  We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.  Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.  The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult.  But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.  We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries – we must claim its promise.  That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure – our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks.  That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God.  That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

Thrilled to see climate addressed in his speech, the Sierra Club was quick to applaud President Obama’s comments about his commitment to respond to climate change.  We will, as Executive Director Mike Brune reflects in his statement, work hard to hold polluters accountable, and as the nation’s largest national environmental organization, will work with our 2.1 million members and supporters to do so.

Similarly, we congratulate President Obama for the amazing environmental and conservation victories during his first term:  Four new national monuments, protecting wilderness from private interests at Drakes Estero, and barring oil and gas drilling from over 11 million acres of land in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve Area. In fact, our membership awarded the administration with thousands of thank you notes for these issues.  Recognizing these fine achievements, we also feel that the President has just begun to establish his conservation legacy, which, at the moment, has been unfortunately eclipsed by his drilling legacy.

As it turns out, Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush all protected more public lands during the term of their administration than has President Obama (both administratively and congressionally)—thus far.  Lucky for America’s heritage, Obama has four more years to safeguard our treasured places, and fulfill that commitment to “maintain our national treasure.” 

In a recent report by the Center for American Progress, the authors point to the imbalance between fossil fuel development on public lands and protecting those lands. So far, the Obama administration has “leased approximately 2.5 times more land to oil and gas companies than it has permanently protected for the American people and future generations to use for recreation, clean air and water, and historical purposes.”

As President Obama aptly suggested in his Inaugural Address, our government should work to preserve public lands for the enjoyment of all Americans, not for short-term exploitation and degradation by special interests.

Clearly, in the 112^th Congress it was extraordinarily difficult to work with lawmakers on constructive steps forward for public lands protection, much less anything.  Recognizing some of the deep divisions that remain in the 113^th Congress, as the president reflected on Monday, President Obama does not need Congress to protect lands under the Antiquities Act of 1906.  According to CAP’s report, the Act has been used by 16 of 19 presidents since the act’s passage. The Obama administration should grant extremely popular national monument protections to public lands such as these:

• Grand Canyon Watershed (Arizona)
• Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks (New Mexico)
• Greater Canyonlands (Utah)
• Stornetta Public Lands (California)

In his first term, President Obama oversaw a huge drilling expansion in the U.S, both on private and public lands. This expanded drilling will not help average Americans, it will not reduce the cost of gasoline or of heating one’s home; it will only serve to damage a commonly held American resource and exacerbate climate disruption. Instead, and as the president suggested in his address, the economic value of sustainable, protected public land and investments in clean energy far outweigh the net benefit of drilling. This is particularly true when weighed against the inevitable losses such exploitation creates through the pollution of dirty fossil fuels, destruction of habitat and biodiversity, losses to tourist and outdoor recreation industries, and negative impacts to climate solutions.

We look forward with hope at the great opportunity President Obama has laid out for his second term. We hope he will live up to his promise to the American people to protect our lands, our wildlife, and our climate.

Written with significant contributions from Lands Team intern, Claire Price

A Decision to Be Thankful for in the Arctic

The Arctic’s wildest country is some of its least well known, but that is about to change. After months of planning and evaluation, the Department of Interior has released its highly anticipated Final Environmental Impact Statement for its plan to manage the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the western Arctic. While such a development may sound insignificant, the results are anything but. Under the administration’s plan, 11 million acres of the most important wildlife habitat in the western Arctic will be protected and put off-limits to oil and gas development.

The Reserve is the nation’s largest tract of public land at 23 million acres, and its grandeur cannot be overstated. It has been my great fortune to travel through this remarkable place and to experience it first-hand.  Two summers ago my wife and I watched three wolverines wrestle playfully in a snowfield on one day, and the next day we were stunned to witness 20,000 caribou fill a valley. This summer I spotted a bar-tailed godwit—a shorebird that flies non-stop from Alaska’s western Arctic to New Zealand (over 6,000 miles), and I also discovered a fossilized mammoth tusk that could be half a million years old. When I look back at these experiences I think of what it used to be as the mighty buffalos roamed the Great Plains, this place still exists.  The vastness of the western Arctic provides endless memories of awe. 

The Reserve is home to the calving grounds of America’s two largest caribou herds, the highest concentration of grizzly bears and wolverines in the Arctic, and to huge numbers of migratory birds which eventually make their way to backyards in all 50 states.  This area is one of our most significant and ecologically important pieces of public land—a fact recognized by the new management plan put forward by the Obama administration.

The plan will protect core caribou calving areas for the Teshekpuk Lake and Western Arctic herds, both of which provide a vital subsistence resource for more than 40 communities in northern and western Alaska. Coastal area protections will benefit polar bears, walrus, beluga whales and other marine mammals, while protections for other areas will safeguard resting places for migrating birds and waterfowl that are so important to subsistence users, birdwatchers and sportsmen across the country.

More than 400,000 public comments supporting strong conservation protections were submitted during the plan drafting process. Alaska Native leaders, businesses, scientists and hundreds of thousands of Americans spoke up for a balanced plan. Twenty-seven resolutions, representing 90 villages in the region, calling for the protection of critical areas, wildlife and the subsistence way of life, were adopted.   

As a result, the administration’s new plan for managing this irreplaceable piece of the Arctic strikes an important balance between conservation of nationally important wildlife habitat, subsistence uses and energy development. For the first time there will be a plan in place to meet the unique dual mandate for use of the Reserve—preserving important habitats while also allowing for energy development. Though oil and gas drilling will still be allowed under the new plan in certain areas, there is a new (and much needed) emphasis on protection. 

Protecting this special place is more important now than ever, as the dangers posed by drilling are becoming clearer every day. In the last year, as Shell has struggled to commence their operations in the Arctic, they’ve had their ships catch fire, lose control, and – most recently – run aground on the coast of Alaska. Now, its clear that letting them continue to operate is nothing less than an invitation for disaster. The Arctic is both too pristine and too ecologically important to give Shell or any other company another chance to fail.

Thanks to the Administration’s record in the Arctic, there is at last recognition of the importance of the Reserve for wildlife and local communities, not just for oil and gas.  It’s just the latest in a line of positive decisions by the Obama Administration. In recent weeks, the Administration has made great progress in protecting land all across the country, expanding a marine sanctuary in Northern California and protecting wilderness and seashore at Drakes Estero.  With a series of new national monument proposals now before the President, we are hoping and fighting to see more of this progress in the coming year.  

President Obama's holiday gift to you? Protecting 11 million acres of America's Arctic landscape. Send him a "thank you" ecard! --> http://sc.org/ArticLandscape

--Dan Ritzman, Sierra Club Alaska Campaign Director

Sierra Club to Dept. of Interior: Shell Is Proving Our Point in the Arctic

Today's Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee

Below are the comments delivered by Sierra Club Lands Team Represenatative Claire Price to a meeting of the Department of Interior's Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee today - January 10 - in Washington, D.C.:

"Hello, my name is Claire Price, Sierra Club Lands Team Representative.

It is not news that the Sierra Club and our 2.1 million members, supporters, and volunteers oppose drilling in America’s Arctic. The area is too sensitive, too ecologically important, and – as those who try to conquer it continue to learn – too volatile for oil drilling. In fact, as the threat of climate disruption becomes a dangerous reality, drilling is a one-two punch for the Arctic, as the carbon released would further melt arctic ice by worsening our climate crisis.

The Sierra Club has been so clear with our position that Royal Dutch Shell "preemptively" sued our organization to stop us from making the case that drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean is risky and unsafe. Then, Shell spent the rest of 2012 making our argument far better than we ever could. In less than one year, Shell proved over and over again that they are completely incapable of safely drilling in the Arctic. Their ships have caught fire and lost control; they crushed their own spill containment equipment, a criminal investigation into pollution violations has been launched against one of their drilling ships, and another ran aground in Alaska while carrying more than 150,000 gallons of fuel.

This should be the last straw.

We should judge Shell not by their assurances or their PR tactics, but by their record – and Shell’s record clearly demonstrates that letting them operate in the Arctic is an invitation for disaster. With their long list of mistakes, missteps, and shortcomings raising fears of another Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon disaster, Shell does not deserve another chance to fail.

Shell may argue that the company took every step possible to ensure safety. If that is true, their consistent failures demonstrate that no amount of preparation by any oil company can guarantee safe drilling in the Arctic.

The Sierra Club urges the Obama Administration to take three critically important steps as soon as possible:

1)       Deny permits for the drilling of exploratory wells in the Arctic this summer

2)      Rescind leases from Shell, Conoco, and Statoil, returning the money those companies paid for drilling rights back to their coffers.

3)      Cancel proposed lease sales in 2016 and 2017 for the Chuchki and Beaufort seas.

For Shell, 2012 was a year of dangerous mishaps that show why oil cannot be safely drilled from the Arctic Ocean. For the rest of us, it was a year of disasters -- from droughts and wildfires to record heat and the superstorm Sandy -- that show why it's more important than ever that we address climate disruption and move beyond oil for good. We can’t put one of our most ecologically important regions on the hook for the problems oil companies have shown they will invariably have when they try to drill there. And we shouldn’t expect our climate crisis to be addressed by doing more of the same. That’s why we must act now before it’s too late. By making each of these decisions President Obama and his administration would prove they are serious about solving our climate crisis, ending our dangerous dependence on dirty energy, and preserving one of our most pristine and important wild areas for generations to come."

 

Happy New Year to the Hoback!

Great news! Thanks to many supporters like you, the Wyoming Range’s spectacular Upper Hoback basin has been permanently protected from destructive fracking! Just days ago, The Trust for Public Lands secured the final portion of the $8.75 million needed by December 31st to buy out drilling leases owned by a Houston-based oil and gas company. Over the past several years Sierra Club and our conservation partners have fought to protect the Upper Hoback from development of 136 natural gas wells, 17 well pads and miles of new roads, which would have destroyed this important wildlife migration corridor in the Bridger-Teton National Forest just 35 miles from Jackson. The leases will be permanently retired under the provisions of the 2009 Wyoming Range Legacy Act and can never be sold again.  

While we celebrate this huge victory for the Upper Hoback, we must be vigilant in protecting another critical piece of the Wyoming Range. Just south of the Upper Hoback, an area known as the “44K” is threatened by another highly controversial drilling project. The “44K” is designated critical habitat for the threatened Canada lynx and an important migration corridor for mule deer and other species, and it provides outstanding recreational opportunities on its 44,700 acres.

Like the Hoback, the 44K is one of the few remaining unprotected areas left in the Wyoming Range that was authorized for drilling before passage in 2009 of the Legacy Act, which protects 1.2 million acres from oil and gas drilling. But unlike the Hoback, in which a private drilling company owned valid leases that were grandfathered in when the Legacy Act was passed, the Forest Service has the authority to decide whether or not to cancel the leases in the 44K. The 44K leases were either suspended or not issued as a result of an appeal to the Interior Board of Land Appeals several years ago, so no one holds a current valid lease.

Largely because of the sensitivity of this area for wildlife, in 2011 Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) Supervisor Jacque Buchanan canceled all drilling leases on the 44K, noting “After considering all the alternatives, and the environmental impacts associated with each, I have determined this is the best course of action.”  However, subsequent outcry from industry and politicians resulted in withdrawal of that decision, and agreement by the BTNF to undertake further analysis of the project.  The analysis will include impacts of the proposed project on air quality and wildlife, including lynx. Sierra Club believes that this additional analysis will provide even more justification that drilling should not be allowed.

Later this year, Forest Supervisor Buchanan will again decide whether or not to allow drilling, and will take public comment on her decision. Please stay tuned  –  we’ll need your voice to help ensure that the 44K remains off-limits to drilling forever!

Sign our petition to Forest Supervisor Jacque Buchanan asking her to keep the Wyoming Range free from fracking.

--Bonnie Rice, Greater Yellowstone Campaign

Shell's Arctic Disasters

The drilling ship Kulluk sits aground on the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, Alaska (U.S. Coast Guard)

Last March, I wrote about how Royal Dutch Shell was "preemptively"suing the Sierra Club to stop us from making the case that drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean is risky and unsafe. As it turned out, Shell then spent the rest of 2012 making that argument far more convincingly than we could have. Shell ended the year with one of its drill ships grounded dangerously on a rocky Gulf of Alaska shore near Kodiak Island. But the company's problems started long before that.

On the way up to Alaska, Shell lost control of the drill ship Nobel Discoverer, and the company's oil-spill containment dome was damaged during a failed sea trial off the comparatively mild coast of Washington. Not an auspicious start.

Then, after claiming that it could clean up 95 percent of a major oil spill in the Arctic, Shell backtracked to say that it would only "encounter" that much spilled oil.It also brought enormous political pressure to secure a Clean Air Act waiverfor higher levels of particulate-matter, nitrogen-oxides, and ammonia pollution and pushed the Coast Guard to lower safety standards for its oil-spill response barge, the Arctic Challenger. As of last week, the Coast Guard was investigating the crew of the Noble Discoverer for possible violations of federal law.

But the grounding over New Year's of the drill ship Kulluk, with more than 150,000 gallons of oil on board, has to be the final straw. Thankfully, the Coast Guard was able to rescue the rig's 18-person crew, but not before a hellish 18 hours of 40-mph-plus winds and 35-foot seas in the dark Arctic winter.

The grounding of the Kulluk points to a common thread in Shell's Arctic misadventures: greed. Originally, the drill ship was supposed to stay in Dutch Harbor over the winter. What prompted Shell's sudden decision to move the Kulluk and the Noble Discoverer out of the state before January 1, 2013 by undertaking a risky crossing of the Gulf of Alaska? The company wanted to avoid paying millions in taxes by exiting Alaska.

What Shell's doing in the Arctic is a perfect lesson in the deadly allure of "extreme" oil. Whether it's deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, digging for tar sands oil in the forests of Canada, or attempting to drill in Alaska's Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, the risks and dangers far outweigh any possible benefit beyond a thirst for profits.

And even if we could justify risking pristine Arctic wilderness, the habitat for dozens of threatened and endangered species, and the livelihoods of Alaska's indigenous people (which we can't), there's still the problem of climate disruption. The U.S. government estimates 26 billion barrels of oil might be under the Arctic Ocean. Even if we could safely get to that oil, burning and releasing that much carbon pollution into our atmosphere would mean a global climate disaster. The International Energy Agency estimatesthat two-thirds of known global fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground if we are to have a shot at stabilizing warming at 2 degrees Celsius, which itself is a risky target -- more than double the warming we’ve already felt.

For Shell, 2012 was a year of dangerous mishaps that show why oil cannot be safely drilled from the Arctic Ocean. For the rest of us, it was a year of climate disasters -- from droughts and wildfires to record heat and the superstorm Sandy -- that show why it's more important than ever that we move beyond oil for good.

Send a message to President Obama: We can't trust Shell in America's Arctic.

--Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club