US Misses 2nd Deadline on Bear Protections; Critics Blame Oil Deal

[babylonsister]

US Misses 2nd Deadline on Bear Protections; Critics Blame Oil Deal
by Deborah Zabarenko


WASHINGTON - The federal government has missed its own postponed deadline to decide whether polar bears need protection from climate change, and critics link the delay to an oil lease sale in a vast swath of the bear’s icy habitat.


“When it comes to the survival of the polar bear, the Bush administration is putting the ‘dead’ back into ‘deadline,’ ” said Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who heads a House panel on climate change.

“Now that the Bush administration has taken care of its clear first priority - taking care of their friends in the oil industry - perhaps they can finally give the polar bear, and the global warming that is causing the bear’s demise, the attention it is due,” Markey said in a statement.

Polar bears use sea ice as a platform for hunting seals, their main prey, and without enough ice, they are forced onto land, where they are inefficient hunters. Warmer Arctic waters mean longer distances between chunks of sea ice, and video footage of drowning polar bears has fueled debate over their future.

The US Geological Survey, in a study conducted to aid the government’s decision, reported last year that all the polar bears in Alaska - about 16,000 currently - could disappear if global warming trends continue.

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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/14/7060/