Action Alerts

Help protect polar bear cubs from unnecessary harm

What's At Stake

“The more greenhouse gases we extract and consume, the bigger problem for polar bears.” – Dr. Steven Amstrup, Chief Scientist for Polar Bears International. 

The federal government is considering a proposal that would allow oil and gas companies to harm polar bears across Alaska’s Beaufort Sea region for the next five years. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a rule which would permit companies to harass, disrupt, and displace polar bears during oil and gas operations in one of planet’s most fragile ecosystems.  

Please act right now to help stop this rule. The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comments on this proposal, before the deadline of April 8, 2026.  

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Mother bears rely on quiet, undisturbed dens to give birth and care for their young. But oil and gas activity brings seismic testing, heavy equipment, aircraft, and constant industrial noise into these habitats. That disturbance can cause mothers to abandon their dens, leaving cubs to die. Vehicles and seismic equipment can even crush dens hidden beneath the snow. 

For polar bear cubs, the consequences can be fatal, and this is happening to a population that is already in crisis. 

The Southern Beaufort Sea polar bear population has declined significantly with numbers well under 1,000 bears. As climate change melts the sea ice that is their primary habitat, more bears are forced onto land, directly into the path of expanding oil and gas development. The same fossil fuel extraction driving the climate crisis is now being used to justify even more disruption to the bears’ ability to survive and raise their young. 

Earthjustice is already preparing to fight back on other actions threatening Alaska’s polar bears. We have issued notices of intent to sue federal agencies for violating the Endangered Species Act by approving oil and gas programs that threaten polar bears and their critical habitat in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Western Arctic. As our legal filings show, the government has acknowledged that these activities can disturb denning mothers and result in the death of cubs, yet it continues to move forward without adequate protections.  

But we need you to act right now to help stop this rule that would allow harm to polar bears. The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting public comments on this proposal, and the deadline is April 8, 2026. This is one of the most important opportunities to demand that the agency reject this rule and uphold its responsibility to protect polar bears under the law. 

If this rule moves forward, it will greenlight years of industrial activity that puts vulnerable cubs at risk and pushes an already struggling population closer to collapse. 

Tell the Fish and Wildlife Service to reject this proposal and protect polar bear cubs. 

With your help, we will continue to take this fight to court, hold federal agencies accountable, and defend the Arctic from reckless oil and gas expansion. 

In a snowy setting, a polar bear mother looks directly at the camera, while two young polar bear cubs look off into the distance.
Photo by: Keith Szafranski (iStockphoto)

9 Days Remain

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Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.