Redstate

By Vladimir Posted in Endangered Species Act | Energy | Junk Science | Polar bears — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Just how much do environmentalists want energy to cost?

Judge gives government until May 15 to decide whether polar bears are threatened species [emphasis added]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Associated Press) -- A federal judge has ordered the Interior Department to decide within 16 days whether polar bears should be listed as a threatened species because of global warming.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken agreed with conservation groups that the department missed a Jan. 9 deadline for a decision.

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The ruling is a victory for conservation groups that claim the Bush administration has delayed a polar bear decision to avoid addressing global warming and to avoid roadblocks to development such as the transfer of offshore petroleum leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast to oil company bidders.

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A decision to list polar bears due to global warming could trigger a recovery plan with consequences beyond Alaska. Opponents fear it would subject new power plants and other development projects to federal review if they generate greenhouse gasses that add to warming in the Arctic.

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Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity, the lead author of the petition submitted in 2005, called the judge's order a huge victory, despite not knowing whether polar bears ultimately will be listed.

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The law requires a decision based on science, she said, and science shows the Arctic is thawing.

"The science is perfectly clear. There's no dispute. The polar bear is an endangered species," she said.

Threatened, endangered, or inconvenienced? Does it really matter, Ms. Siegel?