The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has decided
to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered
Species Act (ESA). According to the FWS, the loss of sea ice
threatens the polar bear’s habitat.
As much as the FWS and the Secretray of the Interior Dick
Kempthorne try to stress that the ESA is not intended to regulate
greenhouse gas emissions, this agency decision opens up the door for
such regulation. From the FWS press release:
“In making the
announcement today, Secretary Kempthorne reiterated President Bush?s
statement last month that the ESA was never intended to regulate global
climate change. ‘Listing the polar bear as threatened can reduce
avoidable losses of polar bears. But it should not open the door
to use of the ESA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from
automobiles, power plants, and other sources,’ said Kempthorne.
‘That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the ESA law. The ESA
is not the right tool to set U.S.climate policy.'”
That’s nice in theory, but the door has been opened–it has been opened by Secretary Kempthorne.
I haven’t studied this late breaking development, and am stil trying to
figure out what it all means. One thing is clear: This is a
victory for global warming hysteria.
BTW: The number
of polar bears has increased from about 5,000-10,000 in the 50s and
60’s to 20,000-25,000 today. I wonder why Secretary Kempthorne
didn’t mention this little fact.
