It is the purpose of this webpage to try and inform the public as to the most basic details of a process that is being kept mostly secret. If the USGS, OEPC, BOEMRE, or others wish to add or clarify to what we are providing on this webpage, we welcome the discussion where there has been none.

If you have been wondering whatever happened to the Arctic Studies Initiative, you are not alone. Try to find the ASI on the web and you will not find it. Call or email the people who should know and mums the word. Sure, you will find Department of the Interior Secretary Salazar announcing the initiative to great fanfare on April 13, 2010. Then nothing. The initiative is as quiet as a mouse.

The DOI press release, for the entire world to see, was grand:

At the request of Secretary Salazar, USGS scientists will, by October 1, complete a special review of information that is known about the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea, including studies conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation and other science organizations. Specifically, the report will examine the effects of exploration activities on marine mammals; determine what research is needed for an effective and reliable oil spill response in ice-covered regions; evaluate what is known about the cumulative effects of energy extraction on ecosystems and other resources of interest; and review how future changes in climate conditions may either mitigate or compound the impacts from Arctic energy development. [Bold Added]

So with the ASI report due date bearing down for October 1st, we intently awaited it. We wanted to read how DOI and USGS plan to "support exploration activities, gather the science needed and listen to affected communities."

Most people would be surprised how small the DOI and USGS think the affected communities are given the short emailing list. One effect has been to largely keep secret the scheduling changes of a publicly launched Federal initiative.

When we recently attempted to confirm a rumor we had heard about the ASI report being delayed from the Secretary's October 1st, 2010 date until April 2011, we had no idea we were about to meet a rock wall. After a week, and some challenging talk, we were able to confirm from a USGS regional executive that the ASI report is now due out in April 2011. That made us, and a few others on a handpicked list, that know Secretary Salazar has apparently changed his mind about the ASI and October 1st.

It has been five (5) months since the initiative was announced and still there is no website to provide even basic schedule, contact, workshop and progress information. Knowing since mid-July that the schedule has changed, the USGS has yet to publicly announce it.

No offical explanation has been given by the USGS why the ASI report is being delayed. Nor has an offical explanation been forthcoming from the DOI OEPC or BOEMRE (previously known as the MMS).

An initiative that lacks initiative is off to a really bad start.