Environmental groups sue U.S. over polar bears

Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters 10 Mar 08;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A trio of environmental groups sued the U.S. government on Monday for failing to meet a legal deadline to decide if polar bears should be considered threatened by climate change under the Endangered Species Act.

"It's up to a federal court to throw this incredible animal a lifeline," said Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the plaintiffs. "We need urgent action from this administration to protect the polar bear and reduce greenhouse gas pollution, not continued delay."

Polar bears live only in the Arctic and depend on sea ice as a platform for hunting seals. A report by the U.S. Geological Survey said that two-thirds of the world's polar bears -- some 16,000 -- could be gone by 2050 if predictions about melting sea ice hold true.

This is the first time global warming has been a factor in proposing a threatened status for any U.S. species.

The Bush administration was originally supposed to issue a final decision on the polar bear case on January 9, but requested a delay of a month or so. This past Sunday was the latest final deadline for a decision.

In announcing the January delay, Dale Hall, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the notion of climate change as a cause added to the complexity of the decision.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace and the Center for Biological Diversity filed their lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, seeking to compel the administration to issue a final decision immediately.

The decision rests with the U.S. Interior Department. There was no immediate response on Monday to phone calls to the department after the suit was filed, but a spokesman said beforehand that the lawsuit was expected.

"We were put on notice about 60 days ago that certain organizations intended to file a lawsuit and we've obviously not published a decision ... so a lawsuit is not a surprise to us," Interior spokesman Shane Wolf said by telephone.

Wolf said on Friday that the department would respond to the suit "in a timely manner."

While the decision on the polar bears' possible protected status was postponed, the Interior Department went ahead on February 6 with a sale of oil and gas leases in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast, which includes large swaths of polar bear habitat.

Also on Friday, the Interior Department's inspector general's office launched an investigation into the actions surrounding the listing of the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.

(Editing by Eric Beech)

Conservation groups sue over polar bears
Dan Joling, Associated Press Yahoo News 11 Mar 08;

Three conservation groups sued the Department of the Interior on Monday for missing a deadline on a decision to list polar bears as threatened because of the loss of Arctic sea ice. A decision was due Jan. 9, one year after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the animals as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Agency Director Dale Hall said in January that officials needed a few more weeks to make a decision. But two months later, no decision has been announced.

Polar bears depend on sea ice for hunting seals, denning and giving birth. Conservation groups claim the loss of sea ice due to global warming is accelerating.

"Doing nothing means extinction for the polar bear. That's what the administration is doing — nothing," said Kassie Siegel, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity and the lead author of the 2005 petition that sought the listing.

Her group, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace Inc. asked the federal court in San Francisco to order administration officials to make the decision.

Hall said in January he did not like missing the deadline but, "It is far more important to us to do it right and have it explained properly to the public."

Bruce Woods, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman in Anchorage, said he could not comment on pending legal action. "We are still working as fast as we can to get the decision announced," he said.

Alaska has the only two polar bear populations in the United States: the Beaufort Sea group off the state's north coast and the Chukchi Sea group, shared with Russia, off Alaska's northwest coast.

Summer sea ice in Alaska last year shrunk to about 1.65 million square miles last year, the lowest level in 38 years of satellite record-keeping and nearly 40 percent less ice than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000. Some climate models have predicted the Arctic will be free of summer sea ice by 2030. A U.S. Geological Survey study predicted polar bears in Alaska could be wiped out by 2050.

A decision to list polar bears due to global warming could trigger consequences beyond Alaska.

Opponents fear a recovery plan would subject projects such as new power plants to review if they generate greenhouse gases that add to warming in the Arctic. Conservation groups hope that's the case.

"We believe if and when the polar bear is listed, all federal agencies approving major sources of greenhouse gas emissions will have to look at ways to reduce those emissions to protect polar bears," Siegel said.

Last week, the Interior Department's inspector general said it was beginning a preliminary investigation into why the department had not made a decision.

The inquiry was opened in response to environmental groups and would determine whether a full-fledged investigation was warranted, the department said.