environment
Prudhoe Bay work could disturb only three polar bears
BP’s request would cover drone surveys and cleanup work in Alaska’s North Slope Borough. The Fish and Wildlife Service says the permit would allow only brief, nonlethal disturbance from June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2027.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing BP’s request for a narrow take permit in Prudhoe Bay. It would cover up to three Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears and would not allow injury or death.
- BP wants to keep cleanup and survey work going in Prudhoe Bay.
- The proposal would allow only nonlethal harassment of polar bears.
- The one-year window runs from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2027.
- Federal officials say no injury or mortality is being authorized.
- Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a narrow carveout for BP America Production Company and BP Remediation Management in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing a narrow carveout for BP America Production Company and BP Remediation Management in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The request would allow small numbers of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears to be incidentally harassed, while BP continues cleanup and survey work in one of the Arctic’s most closely watched habitats.
The authorization would run from June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2027. It is limited to nonlethal harassment, not injury or mortality, so the central question is not whether bears can be harmed, but how much disturbance the work can create and still stay inside federal limits.
The work beneath the limit
The activities covered by the request include drone site surveys, surface water monitoring, debris removal, backfill and revegetation. That is the ordinary, unglamorous work of managing a site, but in Prudhoe Bay it takes place in the same landscape polar bears use and cross.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, BP is asking for incidental take authority, which is the legal permission to disturb animals as a side effect of work that is not aimed at them. The agency says the proposal would cover only small numbers of bears and only through Level B harassment, the category for disturbance that does not rise to physical injury.
A one-year leash
The cap matters because the proposal is not a blank check. If finalized, it would allow up to three takes by harassment over the full year, and nothing more serious than that.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has also posted a draft environmental assessment as it weighs the request. For BP, the practical effect is a temporary license to keep moving on field work and cleanup in Arctic bear country, but only under a tight federal limit on disruption.
Why the distinction matters
In places like Prudhoe Bay, the line between industrial activity and wildlife protection is thin enough to matter in the details. A drone flight, a cleanup crew or a monitoring trip can be routine for a company and still count as a disturbance for animals living on the edge of the worksite.
That is why this proposal is so specific. It does not ask to remove the bears from the area or to change the species’ status. It asks for permission to keep the work going while acknowledging that the bears may have to absorb some limited, nonlethal interruption along the way.