Polar bears may be “accidentally” killed for oil drilling in the United States.

After I published my material about the cancellation of M-44 devices used to kill wild animals in the United States, American wildlife defenders contacted me. They say the trouble does not stop there, and right now the authorities want to allow “incidental harm” to polar bears, walruses, and other marine mammals in the Arctic during oil exploration and extraction.

The point is that previously, oil companies operating in the Arctic zone were subject to a strict prohibition: during operations, they were not allowed to cause lethal harm to wild animals. They were only allowed to disturb them in a limited way — for example, by driving them away with noise — but under no circumstances to kill them. Now, however, the new rule introduces changes, and if a polar bear or walrus dies incidentally during exploration, drilling, oil transportation, equipment operation, road construction, pipeline construction, or other oil operations, the company may bear no responsibility at all — or may even receive such authorization in advance.

Literally: in remote regions where polar bears are ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION, everything can simply be rolled into industrial development without any public oversight. Naturally, almost any death of wild animals can then be written off under this mechanism. That is, if heavy machinery runs over bears, it can simply be documented afterward as an “incidental consequence of economic activity,” and it will be completely legal.

The situation in the Arctic is already extremely severe: animals already lack food, their habitat is being destroyed by humans, and oil spills and industrial infrastructure are everywhere. Even the deaths of just a few females with cubs can be a serious blow to a local population. This concerns our country as well, because the polar bear population between the United States and Russia is SHARED. Our polar bears will die.

There are only about 26,000 polar bears left in the entire world. There is the Chukchi-Bering Sea population, shared by the United States and Russia, and the Southern Beaufort Sea population, shared by the United States and Canada. Polar bears also live in Norway and Greenland. That means they live in only five countries in the world.

Thus, in the United States, the right of industrial operators to “roll into the ground” bears belonging to a shared population between countries during oil extraction operations is being legalized right now.

How much do you think transnational corporations will care about the lives of, say, female polar bears that build snow dens to give birth to their cubs? As you know, most polar bears do not hibernate, but for females, denning is vital for raising offspring. So if a transnational corporation needs to destroy these lands for resource extraction, while knowing that protected animals are there, what will it do?

I have no doubt that “big business” will simply drive heavy machinery like a steamroller over polar bears and other animals, clearing space for resource extraction.

Now to the problem.

In the United States, the protection of marine mammals, including polar bears and walruses, is regulated by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, or MMPA. Any extractive activity that may incidentally injure or kill marine mammals must be authorized by the authorities. And in March 2026, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a proposed rule titled “Marine Mammals; Incidental Take of Polar Bears and Pacific Walruses in the Beaufort Sea and North Slope of Alaska” on the incidental take of polar bears and walruses during offshore oil operations in the Beaufort Sea area and along the northern coast of Alaska.

Note that the rules would be in effect for five years, from 2026 to 2031. In my previous material, I wrote about the use of M-44 devices in the United States to kill wild animals; there, too, the mechanism was essentially “this is temporary, just tolerate it,” and the dates were also set through 2031. During this time, people will get used to it, the economy will become tied to the new operating model of “roll everything into the ground and rule,” and then it will be enough simply to extend the laws.

And now, pay attention. I think our Allies will immediately understand what this is about: the explanation to the project notes that the decision was made after a request from the oil association AOGA, which asked the authorities to allow “incidental, unintentional take” of a small number of polar bears and walruses during oil exploration, development, production, and transportation in this region for 5 years.

Previously, all versions of the rules prohibited lethal impact, but now it will be possible, fully officially, to cause all forms of harm, INCLUDING DIRECT KILLING, if it “suddenly happens incidentally” during oil industry operations.

I remind you that in our country, too, it is precisely industrial corporations that have recently been demanding the destruction of protected areas, the removal of conservation status, and so on. In other words, these are exactly the same actions now taking place in the United States, copied almost one to one.

Of course, the authorities and transnational corporations promise that only a small number of animals will die. And they say this about species that are on the brink of complete extinction, where any, even the smallest intervention, can lead to catastrophic cascading consequences in the future.

So. Immediately after the project was proposed by big business and supported by the authorities, already in April 2026 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced an oil lease sale for the Coastal Plain of the Arctic NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (ANWR), covering 1.56 million acres. Thus, previously protected Arctic territories are being opened for oil extraction, expanding the interests of big business.

I would not be wrong to say that the oligarchy is simply devouring what remains of the protected-area system. And this is happening both in our country and in the United States and other countries of the world. It is absolute madness: no brakes, tearing apart everything they can reach.

To prepare this material, I carefully studied how the protected status of the Arctic zone in the United States was gradually weakened in the interests of big business.

Donald Trump first signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 22, 2017, with Section 20001, which opened the way for oil and gas leasing on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This law REQUIRED several oil and gas lease sales to be held within 10 years, each offering no less than 400,000 acres. The first lease sale took place on January 6, 2021, in the final weeks of Trump’s first term.

In 2022, Executive Order 14153 and the corresponding Department of the Interior Order No. 3422 were signed, aimed at expanding oil exploration and production in the Arctic region. The authorities referred precisely to the earlier law on lease sales that the president had signed.

And then, when Donald Trump returned to power for a second term, the exploitation of protected lands in the untouched Arctic zone continued. On November 15, 2025, the authorities published a new rule that rescinded Biden’s 2025 rule on the management and protection of Alaska’s national lands, which had strengthened protection for special areas covering roughly 13.3 million acres.

In addition, the returning president’s administration annulled protection for approximately 28 million acres of “D-1” lands — a designation for coastal areas that are critically important for the migration of caribou and bears.

In other words, all of this restored the 2020 policy, when Donald Trump, in the interests of big business, actively worked to remove protective status from Arctic wildlife.

And now comes this completely insane proposed rule, which would allow oil companies to “incidentally” kill polar bears and walruses during their operations. There is no longer any need to think about wildlife or the protection of endangered species. Instead, one can pour diesel into heavy machinery, put on headphones with music, and, “not noticing anything,” roll the unfortunate animals into the ground.

I want you to understand, Allies: madness has gripped the entire world. These are identical actions in the interests of the major industrial lobby: killing animals, destroying protected areas, seizing and appropriating wildlife refuges for short-term profit.

Wildlife defenders from the United States are writing to me now, saying that it is becoming impossible to fight. Their strength is running out.

© PAVEL PASHKOV