Listing the Cook Inlet belugas as endangered - federal biologists estimate there are only 375 of the animals left -

Declaring Cook Inlet beluga whales an endangered species - as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration did Friday was only the first step toward protecting them. Now federal biologists are trying to figure out exactly what's endangering them.

The newly released "Conservation Plan for the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale" - a 128-page report compiled by the National Marine Fisheries Service - takes a preliminary stab at the question, listing 18 possible threats to the local whale population.

Five of those threats would pose a "high" risk of jeopardizing the belugas were they to occur, the study says. Among them are two natural dangers: disease and stranding of whales on mud flats.

Three are man-made dangers: whale poaching, food reduction (by damaging salmon habitat or over-fishing) and unnatural noise in the water (such as off-shore drilling, pile-driving in the construction of a Knik Arm bridge or expansion of the Port of Anchorage).

The report also lists as "unknown" the impact on belugas that might result from three man-made dangers: Oil and gas spills, systematic water pollution (including the partially treated sewage Anchorage discharges into Cook Inlet) and environmental change (such as ocean warming).

"Certainly oil and gas development and all in-water activities that might introduce pollutants are a concern," says Fisheries Service biologist Brad Smith, one of the conservation plan authors.

Read the rest of the story and check out the pix of the 18 stranded whales (they're the white whales in the filthy mud flat water):
http://www.adn.com/3246/story/563481.html

 http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/story/559040.html

2 pix next pg

Sarah Palin's position about the causes of global warming continues to evolve. Last September, she told Newsmax magazine that she doesn't think human behavior is one of the causes of climate change: A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.

More recently, she hinted that manmade activities may play a role in global warming, telling CBS News' Katie Couric: You know, there are man's activities that can be contributed to the issues that we're dealing with now, with these impacts. I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate because the world's weather patterns are cyclical and over our history we have seen changes there. But yesterday, Palin was stumped when asked to name a single manmade cause of climate change by reporter Steve Crupi of NBC affiliate News 3 in Las Vegas.

VIDEO: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/22/palin-stumped-when-asked_n_137010.html

Q: I've also heard you hint that you do think there might be some man-made causes that are contributing to this. Can you describe what those are?

PALIN: Right, well what I have said about this is really the debate at some point, had better shift to, no matter the cause, whether it all be attributed to man's activities or just the natural cycle of climate changes in our earth's history. We have seen this before.

Today: Palin's future son-in-law meets the press Levi Johnston, who's having a baby with the daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin, has dropped out of high school and taken a North Slope job as an apprentice electrician. He would be a senior had he returned to school. http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/newsreader/story/554608.html

My son is a senior, and he's worked for NOAA, as an apprentice his entire junior year, and did Field and Track and helped build a Science Sphere, now housed at Lena Point (modeled after one in Washington DC). I don't see why his parents would let him quit school to work on the oil slopes with Todd Palin.

These Palin's (Todd and Sarah) are 'loyal to oil' only,  and Alaskans are left out, Alaskan issues are left out, they're being duped, as well as the right wing party. They're all about building the oil corporation, look Sarah's mission is to plant miles of pipeline that will eventually corrode and cost tax payers hundreds of millions. It's already happened on her beat on the North Slope (Prudhoe Bay)...oil spills and fires. I keep asking "what's wrong with tanking the gas?" Trucks are easier to maintain and not a national security issue. And what's wrong with a kid continuing his education? Most girls expecting, HAVE to complete school and go to alternative school to receive a diploma. HE's not expecting, BRISTOL is. There's been no mention of Bristol, only that the Palin children are going to the Juneau school district, which is a big hairy lie too. They are NOT in Juneau, maybe in Wasilla, or Anchorage area, but not registered in Juneau, as they claimed. If I were Levi's mom, I'd be pleading for him to stay in school, or he's just going to become a survivor, and holding onto the hem of Palin's skirt. He'll never be independent. He even said that Sarah better win the election. Why? What's in it for him? His life should be separate from DC politics, so the statement was strange. It just makes me wonder if he were taught responsibility of using protection, both in relationships and in governing his life (school). We know Sarah didn't teach her daughter, but what about Levi's parents? Didn't they teach him either? What's wrong with those CONSERVATIVES up north? Ever heard of being conservative with relationships until you can be responsible for one?