Are polar bears endangered?
WASHINGTON (AP) - January 30, 2008 Dale Hall, the agency's director, faced sharp criticism at a
Senate hearing from lawmakers who accused the Interior Department
of stalling to make it easier for oil companies to obtain drilling
leases in the Chukchi Sea, where a fifth of the Arctic's polar
bears depend on sea ice in their hunt for food.
Another Interior Department agency, the Minerals Management
Service, plans to open a large area of the Chukchi Sea to oil and
gas leases on Feb. 6.
The Chukchi Sea is home to one of two U.S. polar bear
populations, and scientists say global warming is causing serious
melting of Arctic sea ice, the bear's primary habitat. The
department proposed possibly listing the bear as threatened -
triggering greater federal protection - more than a year ago.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairman of the Environment and
Natural Resources Committee, demanded "a commitment to take
immediate action" to protect the bear before the leasing begins
and asked Hall why his agency "is dragging its feet" while the
department "is moving quickly ... to allow new oil activities in
one of the biological hearts of the polar bear's habitat."
"There should be no further delay," said Boxer, noting that by
law the agency was to have made a decision on whether to declare
the bear threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act by
Jan. 9.
Hall said he could not promise a decision before Feb. 6, only
that a recommendation on the bear will be sent to Interior
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne "in the very near future."
Separately, Randall Luthi, director of the minerals management
agency, said Wednesday that no matter when the ESA decision is made
the Chukchi Sea lease sales - originally planned for last June -
will proceed as scheduled. "We think there is strong interest,"
in the leases by a number of major oil companies, he said in an
interview with several reporters.
Luthi said a delay in the lease sale, or a decision to list the
bear as threatened, could prevent oil companies from beginning
exploration activities this summer, meaning a year's delay since
such activities have to be done before increases in ice flow in the
fall.
He said his agency has advised potential lease buyers of the
possible listing of the bear under the ESA and advised them to
prepare oil spill response plans and plans to limit potential
encoutered with bears on sea ice. A listing would require
additional review of exploration and development plans by the Fish
and Wildlife Service to assure bear protection.
Hall told the Senate committee the delay is not based on
unresolved scientific issues, but - given the issue's high profile
- a desire to assure that Congress and the public will understand
the decision when it is made public.
Hall rejected suggestions of political involvement in the
decision, which is the first time that a species has been
considered for protection under the act because of the impact of
global warming. Last September, a series of reports by the Interior
Department's scientific arm concluded that as much as two-thirds of
the polar bear population could disappear by mid-century because of
the loss of sea ice attributed to climate change.
The recommendation will be based on "the science in front of
us. That will be the basis for our decision," said Hall.
Pressed by Boxer, he acknowledged that a draft staff
recommendation on the bear listing has been completed and sent to
Washington in mid-December by agency scientists in Alaska - where
the major scientific analysis and research has been focused.
The decision could have broad implications since protecting the
bear's habitat could mean finding ways to reduce ice melting.
The threats to the polar bear "are a harbinger of what the
future may look like" under climate change, said Sen. Frank
Lautenberg, D-N.J., who has argued for aggressive action to reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., a leading co-sponsor of legislation
before the Senate to require reductions in greenhouse gases, said
the bear "may be to global warming what the canary in a coal mine
has been to mining."
But Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., an outspoken skeptic about
climate change, called the polar bear "the pawn in a much larger
game of chess." He maintained that environmentalists are using the
bear to push for restrictions on greenhouse gases that could lead
to higher energy prices. Inhofe argued that concern about the loss
of sea ice was based on questionable computer modeling.