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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Polar Bear Decision Deadline Set by Court

Last night, a federal court ruled the Bush administration must make a decision by May 15 on whether to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Three advocacy groups — the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Greenpeace — sued the Department of the Interior in order to force a decision after months of delay.

The last time we heard from officials in Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), they promised a decision by July. However, FWS has failed to keep its word a number of times already, giving the public no reason to believe the agency would make its decision this summer, if ever.

Meanwhile, another agency within the Interior Department (the Minerals Management Service) has been working hastily to hand out permits to oil and gas companies to drill in areas in Alaska where the polar bear lives. Because FWS has yet to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act, the companies do not legally have to take into consideration the effects of their operations on the bears' habitats.

The melting ice caused by global warming is the primary threat to the polar bear's existence, which means climate change skeptics are also opposed to listing the animal under the Endangered Species Act.

But environmental advocates are hopeful that, with this court decision in place, the administration will make the correct decision. Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity said in a statement, "By May 15th the polar bear should receive the protections it deserves under the Endangered Species Act, which is the first step toward saving the polar bear and the entire Arctic ecosystem from global warming."