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Science Forum Index » Environment Forum » Court Orders U.S. to Stop Keeping Polar Bear Status on Ice
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| Roger Coppock |
 Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 11:51 pm |
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Court Orders U.S. to Stop Keeping Polar Bear Status on Ice
Federal court gives the Bush administration two weeks to decide
whether to list polar bears as an endangered species
By David Biello
A federal judge Tuesday ordered the Bush administration to stop
dragging its feet on the fate of polar bears and decide by May 15
whether declining sea ice in the Arctic threatens their existence. The
ruling marks a victory for a coalition of environmentalists—the Center
for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC)—which sued to force the U.S. Department of the Interior
to decide whether to protect the hoary Arctic predators under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA), which it had committed to do by January
9.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland, Calif., ruled that any
further delay would be a violation of the intent of the ESA.
"The federal court has thrown this incredible animal a lifeline,"
Andrew Wetzler, director of NRDC's endangered species project, said in
a statement. "The science is absolutely unambiguous that the polar
bear deserves protection."
Wilken rejected the Interior Department's request to postpone its
decision on polar bears until June 30, saying to do so violates
"congressional intent that time is of the essence in listing
threatened species" and ruled further that the agency had failed to
prove that waiting "will not pose a threat to the polar bear."
According to the World Wildlife Fund, some polar bears are already
starving as a result of changing conditions in the Arctic. And the
U.S. Geological Survey recently reported that polar bear populations
could drop precipitously in coming decades as the sea ice they rely on
to hunt recedes as the globe warms. This past September, the National
Snow and Ice Data Center, which collects polar and ice information for
the government, announced that there was less sea ice covering the
Arctic Ocean than at any time since satellite measurements began in
1979.
[ . . . ]
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=court-orders-polar-bear-announcement |
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