Polar Bear Is Made a Protected Species
By FELICITY BARRINGER
Published: May 15, 2008
The polar bear, whose summertime Arctic hunting grounds have been greatly reduced by a warming climate, will be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced on Wednesday.
The polar bear is being stressed by melting sea ice but scientists say the species would not vanish entirely for a century or more.
But the long-delayed decision to list the bear as a threatened species may prove less of an impediment to oil and gas industries along the Alaskan coast than many environmentalists had hoped. Mr. Kempthorne also made it clear that it would be “wholly inappropriate” to use the listing as a tool to reduce greenhouse gases, as environmentalists had intended to do.
While giving the bear a few new protections — hunters may no longer import hides or other trophies from bears killed ∈Canada, for instance — the Interior Department added stipulations, seldom used under the act, that would allow oil and gas exploration and development to proceed ∈ areas where the bears live, as long as the companies continue to comply with existing restrictions under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Mr. Kempthorne said Wednesday ∈Washington that the decision was driven by overwhelming scientific evidence that “sea ice is vital to polar bears’ survival,” and all available scientific models show that the rapid loss of ice will continue. The bears use sea ice as a platform to hunt seals and as a pathway to the Arctic coasts where they den. The models reflect varying assumptions about how fast the concentration of greenhouse gases ∈ the atmosphere will increase.
In prepared remarks, the secretary, who earlier ∈ his political life was a strong opponent of the current Endangered Species Act, added, “This has been a difficult decision.” He continued, “But ∈ light of the scientific record and the restraints of the inflexible law that guides me,” he made “the only decision I could make.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/us/15polar.html?emc=rss&partner=rssnyt
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