Polar Bears Not Endangered, U.S. Agency Says
Polar Bears Not Endangered, U.S. Agency
Says
Environmental activists lost a key battle in the fight to have polar bears listed as an endangered species this week when the US Department of the Interior upheld a decision to classify the species as threatened, giving the bears less protection under the law.
Officials said that they did not find that the species was on the brink of extinction, a necessary determination for an endangered classification. Activists have vowed to challenge the decision.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the status of endangered requires the government to assess the effect of greenhouse gases on the bears' native lands in the Arctic. When the government considers permits for oil development in the region, it is required to consider greenhouse gas emissions in making its decisions.
When the polar bear was classified as threatened by the Bush administration, officials invoked a special rule which states that the Endangered Species Act could not be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. An endangered listing is consequently more effective in limiting industrial activity that produces the gases.
The Centre for Biological Diversity, one of a number of groups pushing for an endangered classification for polar bears, calls the ruling evidence that Obama's administration is continuing to defend Bush-era “anti-science” decisions. The group claims that polar bears face an 80 percent chance of extinction within the next 40 years.
Environmental activists lost a key battle in the fight to have polar bears listed as an endangered species this week when the US Department of the Interior upheld a decision to classify the species as threatened, giving the bears less protection under the law.
Officials said that they did not find that the species was on the brink of extinction, a necessary determination for an endangered classification. Activists have vowed to challenge the decision.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the status of endangered requires the government to assess the effect of greenhouse gases on the bears' native lands in the Arctic. When the government considers permits for oil development in the region, it is required to consider greenhouse gas emissions in making its decisions.
When the polar bear was classified as threatened by the Bush administration, officials invoked a special rule which states that the Endangered Species Act could not be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. An endangered listing is consequently more effective in limiting industrial activity that produces the gases.
The Centre for Biological Diversity, one of a number of groups pushing for an endangered classification for polar bears, calls the ruling evidence that Obama's administration is continuing to defend Bush-era “anti-science” decisions. The group claims that polar bears face an 80 percent chance of extinction within the next 40 years.
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