In conjunction with KBCS, we’re posting a transcript of Martha Baskin’s latest story. Listen to her radio story here.

 Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been embroiled in controversy since it was revealed on May 5 that he allowed the Minerals Management Service to exempt BP’s offshore drilling plan from environmental review. This week the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against Salazar for approving 300 drilling operations without permits required by the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Drilling opponents in Alaska would like to see a moratorium on drilling in their state, while fishermen in the Puget Sound say all fisheries are at risk if we don’t get control of our carbon emissions.

This week the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for ignoring environmental reviews when approving offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The suit follows on the heels of a second suit, filed last Friday, on grounds that Interior ignored marine-mammal protection laws.

The Center’s Oceans Director, Miyoko Sakashita: “The Gulf of Mexico is a very fragile and productive area that has several different species of endangered whales and sea turtles and dolphins. Vast diversity.” Many were at risk from the huge network of offshore oil and gas platforms, says Sakashita. “In spite of that most of these projects went forward without really getting much environmental review at all. When Secretary of Interior Salazar came into office he said, ‘Well, I’m the new sheriff in town. I’m going to reform this agency that’s known to have been far to cozy with the oil industry.”

But little has changed.

“The Gulf of Mexico has essentially become this lawless zone where offshore oil and gas is calling the shots,” Sakashita says.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which works to protect imperiled species and their habitat, is also concerned about drilling elsewhere in the US. Shell Oil announced this week it would continue with plans to drill in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chuckchi Seas.

“One of the things that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill tells us is that offshore oil and gas drilling should not be happening at all in Alaska,” Sakashita says.

Response time would be next to impossible in Alaska’s remote frozen tundra, says Sakashita. “So what needs to happen is a real moratorium on drilling in the Arctic which is scheduled to start this summer as well as taking back approvals to move forward with drilling on the East Coast in the Atlantic.”

In Alaska, the catastrophe in the Gulf recalls the 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil disaster in which 11 million gallons of crude seeped into Prince William Sound. Today, the Sound may look pristine on the surface, says Dan Strickland with Alaska’s Marine Conservation Council. But if you know where to look or go down to the beach and dig a little you’ll find mussel beds filled with oil.

“That’s where it really seeped in. They have these abysal threads that act like an incredible sponge and they hold the oil and then they leach it out very slowly over the years,” Strickland says.

Mussel beds are where 90 percent of birds and animals feed.

In March, Alaskan conservationists won a partial victory in their fight against drilling. President Obama withdrew proposed leasing schedules for Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea.

“We argued successfully that it’s a tremendously valuable fisheries. Forty percent, almost half of the US national seafood harvest, comes from this and thousands of jobs,” Strickland says.

The weakness of the withdrawal is that it can easily be removed by a new president. What’s more, the rest of Alaska remains fair game. As in the Gulf, says Strickland, regulators work hand-in-hand with the industry they’re supposed to regulate.

The Alaska Marine Conservation Council participated in a recent West Coast telepress conference call. The call’s purpose was to show solidarity with fishermen on the Gulf Coast and look at longterm solutions for the country and the fishing industry. With 2 to 3 percent of world oil reserves, says Strickland, the US could drill every bit of its continental shelf and not lessen its dependence on foreign oil.

“The really smart way to go now would be to focus on energy conservation and renewable energy,” Strickland says. “We have to do that as a nation.”

Pete Knutson fishes commercially in Alaska and Puget Sound.

Knutson: “If you look at the larger picture, the hydrocarbons that we as homo sapiens are putting up in the atmosphere has effects on all these fisheries.”

What frightens him most is the drop in ocean pH levels. Oceans are becoming more acidic from absorbing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“If the oceans become more acidic than your oysters, even the little terrapods that the salmon feed on, their shells start dissolving,” Knutson says.

“So the longterm picture beyond the Gulf is one of extreme concern. We have to get these carbon emissions under control.”

Pink salmon is one of Knutson’s specialties. Fifty percent of what they eat are  terrapods.

Knutson and Strickland agree an important step forward is meaningful climate and clean energy legislation. The proposed Kerry-Lieberman Climate bill is expected to be voted on in committee by Labor Day.

But Knutson is disappointed. The bill allows states to opt out of offshore drilling, but as a carrot offers a hefty share of profits if they opt in. Liabilities are minimal.

“People are going to have to really start raising hell to force some good legislation because the strength of the lobbying back there by these corporations. It seems the gloves are off ‘em in terms of how much they can donate to political campaigns,” Knutson says.

He pauses to look at the calm waters surrounding his fishing vessel.

“It’s funny. You talk about the oceans, you end up talking about campaign contributions. You can’t seem to separate one from the other.”

And with that Knutson heads back to work. Fishing season begins in a few weeks.

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Below is footage of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as released by Sen. Bill Nelson’s office and blogged about by Andrew Revkin at DotEarth: