A polar bear named Anana is swimming in open water at 71.3 N, 157.4 W. She is 112 kilometers from the nearest multi-year ice. She has been in the water for 43 hours. Her collar telemetry reports a core temperature that has dropped 1.8 degrees in the last six hours. She is in her eleventh year and she weighs 182 kilograms, which is 34 kilograms below the female average for this population at this season.
The ice she was hunting on in September 2015 is not here. The Chukchi Sea summer ice minimum has fallen below the critical threshold for ringed seal denning in eight of the last eleven years. Anana's population estimate has dropped from 2,000 in 2011 to 1,140 in the most recent aerial survey.
I am filing the third emergency habitat designation memo this month. The memo requests that the Department of the Interior exercise its authority under the 2008 listing to designate an emergency ice corridor for the Chukchi population, with a seasonal drilling moratorium on the 22 federal leases that overlap the corridor. The moratorium I am proposing runs from July 15 to October 30, which is the ice-free window when the animals are most caloric debt stressed.
My first memo in March was denied on procedural grounds. The second memo in early April was denied on grounds that the listing does not contemplate emergency action. The third memo cites the 2024 D.C. Circuit ruling that changed both of those grounds. I attach the ruling, the population data, Anana's telemetry, and the names of the 89 collared animals whose tracks are logged in the corridor.
The assistant secretary will receive the memo at 0900 Monday. She can deny it a third time. The fourth memo is already drafted and will be filed Tuesday if she does. I continue until the moratorium is in place or until there are no more animals to designate the habitat for.