US lists polar bear as threatened species

H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press Yahoo News 15 May 08;

The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday because of the loss of Arctic sea ice but also cautioned the decision should not be viewed as a path to address global warming.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses, meaning, he said, that the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future.

But 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.

The department outlined a set of administrative actions and limits to how it planned to protect the bear with its new status so that it would not have wide-ranging adverse impact on economic activities from building power plants to oil and gas exploration.

"This listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting," said Kempthorne. He said he had consulted with the White House on the decision, but "at no time was there ever a suggestion that this was not my decision."

Kempthorne, at a news conference, was armed with slides and charts showing the dramatic decline in sea ice over the last 30 years and projections that the melting of ice — a key habitat for the bear — would continue and may even quicken.

He cited conclusions by department scientists that sea ice loss will likely result in two-thirds of the polar bears disappearing by mid-century. The bear population across the Arctic from Alaska to Greenland doubled from about 12,000 to 25,000 since 1960, but he noted that scientists now predict a significant population decline. Studies last year by the U.S. Geological Survey suggested 15,000 bears would be lost in coming decades with those in the western Hudson Bay area of Alaska and Canada under the greatest stress.

But when asked how the bear will be afforded greater protection, Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, had difficulty coming up with examples.

Better management of bear habitat on shore and making sure bears aren't threatened by people including hunters, more studies on bear population trends and their feeding habits were among the areas mentioned. "I don't want to prejudge recommendations for (bear) management," said Hall whose agency administers the Endangered Species Act.

Environmentalists were already mapping out plans to file lawsuits challenging the restrictive measures outlined by Kempthorne.

"They're trying to make this a threatened listing in name only with no change in today's impacts and that's not going to fly," said Jamie Rappaport Clark of Defenders of Wildlife and a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director.

Members of Congress also were skeptical.

The Bush administration "is forcing the polar bear to sink or swim," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of a House committee on global warming.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called it "a lifeline for our last remaining polar bears" but said the bear's survival won't be assured without limits on oil development in the same Arctic waters where the bears are found.

Despite the new listing, the announcement underscores the need to approve climate legislation that would limit the release of greenhouse gases and avert the future effects on climate change, said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Environment Committee.

Scientists have blamed global warming for the disappearance of sea ice which is vital for the bear's survival.

Summer ice surrounding the North Pole declined an average of 10 percent per decade since 1979, with a loss of about 28,000 square miles per year, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Last year was the sharpest drop, as the amount of sea ice in September fell to 1.65 million square miles, or 23 percent below the previous low in 2005.

Kempthorne proposed 15 months ago to investigate whether the polar bear should be declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act. That triggered a year of studies into the threats facing the bear and its survival prospects.

A decision had been expected early this year, but the Interior Department said it needed more time to work out many of the details, prompting criticism from members of Congress and environmentalists. Environmentalists filed a lawsuit aimed at forcing a decision and a federal court on April 29 set a May 15 deadline for a decision.

A species is declared "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act if it is found to be at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future. If it does not make progress toward recovery, it can be declared "endangered" meaning it is at risk of extinction and needs even greater protection.

US lists polar bears as threatened
Jitendra Joshi, Yahoo News 14 May 08;

The US government Wednesday listed polar bears as a threatened species owing to a drastic reduction in Arctic sea ice, but stood by its permission for oil and gas drilling in their frozen habitat.

The announcement by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne amounted to the government's first use of the Endangered Species Act to list a species as menaced because of a loss of habitat caused by global warming.

"While the legal standards under the ESA compel me to list the polar bear as threatened, I want to make clear that this listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting," Kempthorne told a news conference.

"Any real solution requires action by all major economies for it to be effective," he said, echoing President George W. Bush's reasons for renouncing the Kyoto treaty on climate change.

The Interior Department said that under the ESA, a listing of "threatened" means that a species is at risk of becoming "endangered" within the foreseeable future. It is listed as endangered when it faces imminent extinction.

The polar bear now comes under federal protection, but officials were vague about what that would mean in practice, and were at pains to stress that it did not mean a halt to energy exploration in northern Alaska and offshore.

The Bush administration supports oil drilling in an Arctic wildlife refuge in Alaska, adamant that industry regulations already exist to protect species such as polar bears, whales, seals and walruses.

Kempthorne did detail greater steps to monitor polar bear populations in Alaska and outlying islands in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, where the US government this year has sold new leases for energy exploration.

Hunting of polar bears is already restricted under US law after their numbers fell as low as 12,000 in the 1960s, and Kempthorne said ice melting posed the greatest danger now, not energy production or indigenous peoples.

The iconic bears' population has rebounded to an estimated 20,000-25,000, two-thirds of them in Canada, but Kempthorne said they were "likely to become in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future" without preventive action.

The interior secretary displayed images showing Arctic sea ice fell to its lowest level ever recorded by satellite, 39 percent below the long-term average from 1979 to 2000.

Kempthorne said he was acting on advice from the scientific community and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and denied coming under any pressure from the White House to stop the listing.

"Today's decision is a tremendous victory for one of the world's most iconic and charismatic animals," said Carter Roberts, president of the US arm of the World Wildlife Fund.

"The other big winner today is sound science, which has clearly trumped politics, providing polar bears a new lease on life," he said.

But WWF and other environmental groups also stressed that the US government, which has resisted all legal efforts to parlay the ESA into a law against climate change, had to address the underlying cause: greenhouse gas emissions.

"Federal protection represents only the tip of the iceberg if Americans want to save the polar bear," said Betsy Loyless, senior vice president of the National Audubon Society.

"Listing the bear as threatened is not going to save it if we continue to melt (ice) and drill its habitat," she said.

A Canadian scientific panel last month urged Canada's government to act to safeguard the polar bear, which it recommended designating as a species "of special concern" but not one imminently threatened with extinction.

Kempthorne said the "special concern" category did not exist in US law and he had no option, given the scientific advice, to list polar bears as threatened.

But Edward Markey, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives select committee on global warming, said that at the same time, the US government was allowing Arctic oil and gas drilling to continue "unchecked."

"Essentially, the administration is giving a gift to Big Oil, and short shrift to the polar bear," he said.