Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Polar Bear and the Endangered Species Act

A decision on whether to place the polar bear on the Endangered Species List was due from The Department of the Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on January 9, 2008 but the agency apparently needs more time to make a decision. The loss of sea ice is threatening the polar bear, along with hunters, but global warming is the issue being considered by Interior. A fear by opponents to listing the polar bear as endangered because of global warming is that environmental groups might use it as a tool to oppose any development project that generates carbon dioxide.

Three environmental groups, The Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace, have sued Interior in federal district court in San Francisco to order the agency to make a decision.

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