Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, announced Wednesday that the polar bear will be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species.
The Endangered Species Act has two levels of protection: "endangered"
means a species is in danger of becoming extinct, and "threatened"
means a species is likely to become endangered in the future.
While this designation will protect the polar bear from threats such as hunting, the ruling keeps the door open to gas and oil exploration in Alaska.
The government linked the decline of the bears to melting sea ice.
Secretary Kempthorne said on Wednesday:
Today's decision is based on three findings. First, sea ice is vital
to polar bear survival. Second, the polar bear's sea-ice habitat has
dramatically melted in recent decades. Third, computer models suggest
sea ice is likely to further recede in the future.
Because polar bears are vulnerable to this loss of habitat, they
are, in my judgment, likely to become endangered in the foreseeable
future -- in this case 45 years.
Four graphics tell the story. These graphics are based on actual
satellite photos taken over the past three decades.
This first graphic shows the extent of arctic sea ice in September 1979.
The center of the slide is the North Pole. To the top of the slide
is Russia, to the left is the northern Alaska coast and Canada and
Greenland make up the bottom of the page.
The white is the multi-year ice, five years and older, which
provides many critical habitat functions for polar bears. The light
blue includes seasonal ice that can form and melt in one year, and is
used for hunting. The dark blue is open water.
Here is what the sea ice looked like in September 1989.
Here is what it looked like in September 1999.
Here is what it looked like in September 2007.
Remember, these are based on actual satellite photos.
:
Although global warming is to blame for the polar bear being listed as a threatened species, Secretary Kempthorne said the listing cannot be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions:
Polar bears are already protected under the Marine Mammal Protection
Act, which has more stringent protections for polar bears than the
Endangered Species Act does. The oil and gas industry has been
operating in the Arctic for decades in compliance with these stricter
protections. The Fish and Wildlife Service says that no polar bears
have been killed due to encounters associated with oil and gas
operations.
The most significant part of [Wednesday's] decision is what President Bush
observed about climate change policy last month. President Bush noted
that "The Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National
Environmental Policy Act were never meant to regulate global climate
change."
The President is right. Listing the polar bear as threatened can
reduce avoidable losses of polar bears. But it should not open the door
to use the ESA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles,
power plants, and other sources. That would be a wholly inappropriate
use of the Endangered Species Act. ESA is not the right tool to set
U.S. climate policy.
See The New York Times' coverage and The Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News' coverage.
The Wall Street Journal explains:
In announcing the decision Wednesday, Interior Secretary Dirk
Kempthorne said he was compelled to act both by the requirements of the
federal Endangered Special Act and by scientific evidence showing the
bear's habitat is melting. Although the global population of polar
bears has grown from a low of about 12,000 in the late 1960s to
approximately 25,000 today, Mr. Kempthorne said government scientists
had advised him that computer modeling projects "a significant
population decline" by the year 2050. Last year, he added, Arctic sea
ice fell to the lowest level ever recorded by satellite.
"This decision may not be a popular decision, but I believe it is the right decision," Mr. Kempthorne said.
Get LocalIt might be useful to remind your readers/listeners/viewers/Web users about which species are endangered in your state currently. How has the listing helped (if it has) to protect those species?
Breakdown of endangered species
From the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:
The Fish & Wildlife Service also provides reports on which species:
