US gives green light to Canadian university’s polar bear study

POSTMEDIA NEWS

EDMONTON — A University of Alberta polar bear study that was suspended for two weeks due to a United States government investigation has resumed.

The US Department of the Interior contacted the university on July 13 to issue a “stop-work order” on a polar bear tracking project headed by well-known biologist Andrew Derocher.

“The University of Alberta co-operated and complied fully,” reads a statement released Wednesday from the University of Alberta.

That order was in place until Monday, when the U.S. government lifted it.

The U.S. investigation centres around wildlife biologist Charles Monnett, who was placed on administrative leave by the Department of the Interior in mid-July and been under the microscope ever since.

According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an American watchdog group providing Monnett with legal advice, the investigation centred around how the U of A study was contracted out.

Monnett managed roughly $50 million worth of research contracts as part of his job. The Arctic researcher was an early and central figure in the debate over climate change, after he saw four dead polar bears in the ocean and theorized they drowned trying to reach smaller ice masses.

According to the U of A, the polar bear project cost $1,199,368, an undisclosed amount of which would be contributed from Canada.

“The specifics of the agreement are covered by a legal agreement and are as a result confidential,” reads the U. of A. statement.

Derocher could not be contacted, but was quoted by Nature.com as expressing disbelief about the controversy.

“To begin with, I thought it was related to budgetary issues in the United States. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”