Walruses In The Nation’s Capital?

According to yesterday’s opinion from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, “There are no Pacific walruses in Washington, D.C. — not even at the National Zoo.”  An environmental group seeking to protect the safety of Pacific walruses asked the court to review a regulation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowing certain oil and gas industry players to unintentionally “take” (harm, harass, or disturb, but not kill) Pacific walruses in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska.  The court, however, decided to grant the government’s motion to transfer the case to Alaska, “where the case could have been filed from the start, where the challenged regulation was initiated and developed, where that regulation was initiated and developed, where that regulation will apply, and–not inconsequentially–where Pacific walruses can be found.”

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the taking of marine mammals is generally prohibited except where U.S. citizens engaged in a specified activity, within a specific geographical region, request authorization for “incidental, but not intentional, taking … of small numbers of marine mammals” for a period of less than five years.  16  U.S.C. 1371(a)(5)(A)(i).  The requests must be approved by the Secretary of Interior after an investigation as to whether any unmitigable adverse impacts will occur on the availability of the mammals for subsistence uses.  In this case, the Secretary approved an incidental-take request from the state’s oil and gas association.