US judge orders Obama administration to clarify polar bears' Bush-era 'endangered' status

Canadian Press ^ | 10/20/2010 | Matthew Daly

[BuckeyeTexan]

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ordered the Obama administration on Wednesday to review whether polar bears, at risk because of global warming, are endangered under U.S. law.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan wants the Interior Department to clarify a decision by the administration of former President George W. Bush that polar bears were merely threatened rather than in imminent danger of extinction.

-snip-

Former Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in May 2008 that the bears were on the way to extinction because of the rapid disappearance of the Arctic Sea ice upon which they depend. But he stopped short of declaring them endangered, which had it been declared would have increased protections for the bear and make oil and gas exploration more difficult.

-snip-

The Obama administration upheld the Bush-era policy, declaring that the endangered species law cannot be used to regulate greenhouse gases emitted by sources outside of the polar bears' habitat. If the bears are found to be endangered, however, that could open the door to using the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gases.

-snip-

The bear's threatened status is due mainly to projections about declining Arctic sea ice, rather than a current decline in bear populations, Hopper said.

[BuckeyeTexan]

So, essentially, their goal is to designate the polar bear as an endangered species based on unsubstantiated predictions so they can regulate greenhouse gases and make a boatload of money for themselves trading carbon credits on the Chicago exchange.

[pissant]

at risk because of global warming

I stopped reading this horsesh*t at that point.

[K-oneTexas]

Pretty soon ALL species will be endangered ... except humans.

[IrishCatholic]

Well, let's see- We can take the “projections” of some nebulous future that exists only in the minds of the Green Marxists, or we can take the fact the Canadians have to shoot 500 a year to keep the population in check.

Hmmmm, which would I choose?

[muawiyah]

Look, we would be well served if all the EPA managers and lawyers were sent to the Arctic this winter to COUNT THE BEARS.

Nothing beats an on the ground total survey.

[3niner]

The polar bear population has doubled in the last few decades. I call bull$h|t!

[Morpheus2009]

Call them Carbon indulgences. You buy a right to emit, as if that didn’t already exist, it’s similar to the concept of buying a right to sin, except this new cult is rampant in our political systems.

I would just wish these bozos would wake up and extol the virtues of living with nuclear energy rather than obssessing on the old religious idea that you can buy a right to sin. Even the religion notorious for indulgences got the message, it’s about time they got the idea.

[Rocky]

So, essentially, their goal is to designate the polar bear as an endangered species based on unsubstantiated predictions so they can regulate greenhouse gases and make a boatload of money for themselves trading carbon credits on the Chicago exchange.

That pretty well sums it up. Except that you could add: and shut down American industry and the U.S. economy.