Another big lie

Bizarre Republican talking point is popping up all over, suggesting that the caribou in Alaska like the "warmth" of the pipeline and that caribou have increased in the area around the existing pipeline. Of course the exact opposite is true - the type of caribou in the Artic refuge have been negatively affected:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/20/bachmann-caribou-coffee/

Science, tells a different tale. Though the Central Arctic herd in Prudhoe Bay has grown, the Porcupine caribou in the Arctic refuge are “very different.” Wildlife biologists say drilling proponents are making an “oversimplified” argument when they tout Prudhoe Bay to justify disrupting the much larger Porcupine herd in the refuge:
[ . . . ]
Far from becoming a meeting ground, surveys have shown that the Central Arctic “caribou reduced their use of the more heavily developed Prudhoe Bay oil fields by 78 percent, and their east-west movements declined by 90 percent.” “As surface development continues, the caribou are effectively crowded out of these areas,” said Ray Cameron, a wildlife biologist who studied caribou for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “They’ve decided it’s not the place to be.”

Studies have also found that pipeline construction near caribou calving and summering areas can lead to “greater calf mortality” and the “reduction of the population.”