NAS Study on North Slope Drilling Underscores Need for Conservation, Says WWF

3/4/2003

From: Tom Lalley of the World Wildlife Fund, 202-778-9544 or 202-997-0899 (cell)

WASHINGTON, March 4 -- Following is a statement by Brooks Yeager, vice president, global threats, World Wildlife Fund, in response to the National Research Council Report on the Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope:

"This study confirms what WWF and others in the conservation community have known for many years: that oil and gas drilling in Alaska's North Slope has taken a serious toll on the arctic environment and that the federal and state government has failed to do the planning necessary to minimize these impacts.

"Considering the area affected by drilling is already the size of Rhode Island -- and is expected to double - this report leaves no doubt about the need to protect the last few real wilderness areas such as the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

WWF considers the North Slope of Alaska a globally outstanding area for both marine and terrestrial wildlife species including polar bears, caribou, bowhead whales, and ringed seals.

This news release and associated material can be found on http://www.worldwildlife.org.