Kempthorne Announces New "Special Rule" To Permanently Block Any Steps To Aid Polar Bears

[hatrack]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — As Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced new rules to reduce the influence of federal scientists on endangered species decisions, he also made permanent a "special rule" that will block steps that could protect threatened polar bears.

Kempthorne on Thursday made permanent a rule that says the listing of polar bears will not be used to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a leading cause of global warming, and the primary reason for the loss of Arctic sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears. Summer sea ice this year shrank to 1.74 million square miles, the second lowest level on record and 860,00 square miles below the average between 1979 and 2000.

Kempthorne's rule also declares that decisions on petroleum management off Alaska's coast will continue to be governed by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, a law that conservation groups say has been interpreted too loosely to afford adequate protection for whales, polar bears, walrus and seals that depend on ice.

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Kempthorne on Thursday repeated the logic that led him to propose the special rule in May. There's no proof, he said, that activities outside Alaska "show a casual connection impacting individual polar bears." "Therefore, no consultation is warranted at this time for any such activities and actions," he said. "This provision ensures that the ESA is not used inappropriately to regulate greenhouse gas emissions." Representatives of conservation groups said Kempthorne's rule excludes any possible action against the two biggest threats to polar bears. They vowed to see the rule overturned in court.

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http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081214/GJLIFESTYLES/812122908/-1/SANNEWS

[jwirr]

1. Can these bears be saved any other way? If the people of Alaska

are not going to participate it is going to be very difficult to stop their deaths.

[roguevalley]

3. first of all, the people of Alaska *LOVE* our polar bears. We are

trying our best in the midst of fascism to do something.

[Triana]

2. Typical Pigshit. All that matters to them is that corprats can make $$$...

...if the planet is destroyed and entire species go extinct whilst they're at it - they don't give a shit.

I question the morals, mental stability, and priorities of any jackass who thinks like this.

[jasmeel]

4. What a dick!

[IDemo]

5. No surprise here

The former Idaho governor and senator doesn't exactly have a stellar environmental record:

During his six years in the Senate, Kempthorne scored a "0" on the League of Conservation Voters' legislative scorecards every year except 1993, when he scored 6 percent on the basis of one vote against funding a rocket booster for the space program that environmentalists judged harmful to the environment. His overall LCV score for that period was less than 1%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Kempthorne

[robinlynne]

6. I can almost understand people hurting people. but people destroying animals?

There is absolutely no excuse anywhere for this.