Polar bears to be protected species
Story by The Associated Press
4:07 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Interior Department has declared the polar bear a threatened species, one that must be protected due to the decline in Arctic Sea ice from global warming.
Polar bears are the first species affected by global warming to be protected by the Endangered Species Act. Some business leaders worry this could have a far-reaching impact through stricter environmental regulations.
It was thought that the Interior Department was going to make this announcement earlier this year, but it then said more time was needed before a decision was made. That generated outrage from Congress and as well as a lawsuit from environmentalists. Two weeks ago, a federal judge gave the department until Thursday to rule one way or the other.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said it would be "wholly inappropriate" to use the protection of the bear to reduce greenhouse gases, or to broadly address climate change.
The Endangered Species Act "is not the right tool to set U.S. climate policy," said Kempthorne, reflecting a view recently expressed by President Bush.
Read a summary of the Endangered Species Act at EPA.gov.
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May. 15, 2008 at 7:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)parkay (anonymous)
I don’t want to pay an extra dollar per gallon for gas to make sure there will be an extra few thousand polar bears running around in the Arctic. Anyway, the polar bear population has been rising since the 1950’s, and has no chance of declining in the next 40 years. I want more drilling in Alaska – now, where we should have been drilling 12 years ago. If that disturbs a few bears and caribou – they will have to learn to get along, like the rest of us.
I am tired of the tree-huggers making lawyers richer and me poorer.
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