Feds put off closely watched decision on listing polar bear as threatened

[Mrs. Overall]

Source: AP

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Federal officials said Monday that they will need a few more weeks to decide whether polar bears need protection under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming.

The department has never declared a species threatened or endangered because of climate change, said Dale Hall, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. "That's why this one has been so taxing and challenging to us," he said.

Environmental groups that petitioned to protect polar bears, arguing that warming threatened their habitat, said they would go court to ensure a timely decision. "We certainly hope that the polar bear will be listed within the next month," said Kassie Siegel, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Listing polar bears as "threatened" with extinction could trigger limits on development, particularly oil and gas exploration and production, that could harm the animals. That listing is a step below "endangered," the most severe classification under the Endangered Species Act. In September, the U.S. Geological Survey issued a report concluding that two-thirds of the world's polar bears, including the entire population in Alaska, will be killed off by 2050 because of thinning sea ice from global warming in the Arctic.


Read more: http://www.komotv.com/news/national/13525062.html

[Tempest]

1. They're stalling so Bush's plan to open bear areas to drilling can start

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080104144354.htm

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency within the Department of Interior (DOI), issued its Final Notice of Intent for the Chukchi Lease Sale 193 opening approximately 29.7 million acres of the pristine Chukchi Sea to oil and gas activities on January 2.

This controversial announcement comes just days before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is due to decide if the polar bear should be listed under the Endangered Species Act due to severe habitat loss from melting sea ice in Alaska's Arctic Ocean caused by global warming. If the polar bear is listed, FWS is required to designate critical habitat for the bear, which may include the same waters contained in Lease Sale 193. The Beaufort and Chukchi Seas support an estimated one-fifth of the world's polar bear population.