Secretary Kempthorne Announces Decision to Protect Polar Bears under Endangered Species Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced that he is accepting the recommendation of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing is based on the best available science, which shows that loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat. This loss of habitat puts polar bears at risk of becoming endangered in the foreseeable future, the standard established by the ESA for designating a threatened species.

In making the announcement, Kempthorne said, “I am also announcing that this listing decision will be accompanied by administrative guidance and a rule that defines the scope of impact my decision will have, in order to protect the polar bear while limiting the unintended harm to the society and economy of the United States.”

Kempthorne further stated, “While the legal standards under the ESA compel me to list the polar bear as threatened, I want to make clear that this listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting. Any real solution requires action by all major economies for it to be effective. That is why I am taking administrative and regulatory action to make certain the ESA isn’t abused to make global warming policies.”

In January 2007, the Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the polar bear as threatened throughout its range based on receding sea ice. At that time, Secretary Kempthorne directed the Fish and Wildlife Service and the USGS to aggressively work with the public and the scientific community to broaden understanding of what is happening with the species. In September 2007, the USGS delivered to the Fish and Wildlife Service nine studies related to the future condition of the polar bear and its habitat.

Kempthorne illustrated the listing decision with charts depicting satellite images of the differences in sea ice from the fall of 1979 to the fall of 2007. (Studies and models at http://www.doi.gov/issues/polar_bears.html). Last year, Arctic sea ice fell to the lowest level ever recorded by satellite, 39 percent below the long-term average from 1979 to 2000. The amount of sea ice loss in years 2002-2007 exceeded all previous record lows.

In developing the nine studies it delivered to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the USGS relied upon 10 peer-reviewed climate models, all of which project a decline in Arctic sea ice in the future. In particular, the models project declines in September sea ice of more than 30 percent by the middle of the 21st century. Four of the 10 models project declines in September sea ice in excess of 80 percent by the mid -21st century. Seven of the 10 models show a 97 percent loss in September sea ice by the end of the 21st century.

Based on actual observations of trends in sea ice over the past three decades, these models may actually understate the extent and change rate of projected sea ice loss.

Under the ESA, five factors determine whether a species is to be listed. One of those factors is whether there is present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of habitat.

According to the ESA, a species is listed as “threatened” when it is at risk of becoming “endangered” within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. In contrast, a species is “endangered” when it is currently in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall recommended the listing decision. U.S. Geological Survey Director Mark Myers concurs with the scientific findings that support the decision.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service drew upon biological information on the bear, careful consideration of whether the bear can adapt to new habitat conditions, over 30 years of actual sea ice observations, and dozens of studies and models on sea ice.

In making the decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species, Kempthorne also announced he was using the authority provided in Section 4(d) of the ESA to develop a rule that states that if an activity is permissible under the stricter standards imposed by the marine Mammal Protection Act, it is also permissible under the Endangered Species Act with respect to the polar bear. This rule, effective immediately, will ensure the protection of the bear while allowing us to continue to develop our natural resources in the arctic region in an environmentally sound way.

The conservation measures provide that the production, interstate sale, and export of native handicrafts by Alaska natives may continue and that the subsistence harvest of polar bears is not affected.

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.”

Last month President Bush said, “The Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act were never meant to regulate global climate change.”

He said, “There is a right way and wrong way to approach reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The American people deserve an honest assessment of the costs, benefits and feasibility of any proposed solution. Discussions with such far-reaching impact should not be left to unelected regulators and judges but should be debated openly and made by the elected representatives of the people they affect.” Kempthorne said, “This Administration has taken real action to deal with the challenges of climate change.”

Our incentives for power production from wind and solar energy have helped to more than quadruple its use. The President explained we have worked with Congress to make available more than $40 billion in loan guarantees to support investments that will avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions or air pollutants. In remarks on April 16, the President said that the Administration and the private sector plan to dedicate nearly a billion dollars to clean coal research and development.

Memorandum of Understanding with Canada
Kempthorne acknowledged Canada has not listed polar bears as threatened even though they have two-thirds of the world’s population of the species. “Last week, I went to Canada and explored this issue. The Canadian law is different from U.S. law with respect to endangered species, both in its criteria for listing and administrative process for making listing determinations.”

While in Canada, Kempthorne signed a Memorandum of Understanding with his Canadian counterpart, John Baird, the minister of environment, for the conservation and management of polar bear populations shared by the U.S. and Canada.

Next Steps
To make sure the ESA is not misused to regulate global climate change, Kempthorne promised the following actions:

Protecting the polar bear is the perfect metaphor for the entire enviromarxist movement.

The polar bear doesn't need protection...

Polar bear numbers rising, Inuit elders tell wildlife board

This action unnecessarily hurts people...

Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik lashed out at the closing of the U.S. market, saying it won't affect the number of hunting permits issued each year, but will cause economic hardship in Inuit communities. He contended that bears aren't really at risk because their numbers are rising. Wildlife biologists believe the population is double the 1960s levels because of reduced hunting pressure.
"Our scientists in the field as well as Inuit elders have observed an overall increase in the polar bear population," Mr. Okalik said in a statement. "The truth is that polar bear populations are at near record levels."
Source

We're protecting an endangered species that's undergoing a population boom because it might be threatened by a potential problem that's not really a problem after all...

Winter sea ice could keep expanding

It's all a big sham.

When I was a kid, I remember staring at the iron curtain in a village in Germany that was cut in half. On the West German side, the village was bright, well maintained, and prosperous. Based on aerial photographs and what we could see, the East German side appeared dull, grey, and disheveled.

The West German border was marked by a short fence anyone could hop over. The East German side had a wall, guard tower like one might see at a prison, guards behind machine guns, open space between the wall and a fence, machine guns on the fence set to spray bullets at anyone touching the fence (while we were there a West German was shot by the East Germans because he was sneaking over a night and dismantling the machine guns). Everything on the East German side was built to keep people in.

I never saw anything so depressing in my life. To my liberal college professor father's (whom I love) ultimate dismay, my political leanings were forever changed by that trip. I saw marxism/communism as the greatest threat man ever faced. I still do.

Fast forward a couple of decades. My wife and I learned she was pregnant just before we left for a week at a remote Mexican resort with no television, phones, or newspapers. Just before we left, the Berlin Wall came down.

I've never been more optimistic about the future. Everything seemed to be shining. I remember thinking that there was never, ever a better time in the history of the world, to bring a child into the world.

Liberty was on the march. Tyranny was in retreat.

It may seem overdramatic, but I've seldom been as pessimistic as I am now. I feel like I'm staring at the iron curtain in that small German village all over again and it's advancing.

I know there are ebbs and flows to man's liberty in the fabric of time. I just hate to live in a time of liberty's retreat, tyranny's rise, and greater human misery and suffering, whether it strikes me and my family personally or not.

To me, the enviromarxist agenda seems as stark and apparent as the iron curtain. It's underpinnings are based on the presumption of climate change (and the climate's always changing) and dependant on psuedoscience. The psuedoscience is the excuse for the central control of human activity by an elite few and the corresponding restriction of individual liberty.

Truth will eventually come out and the foundations of enviromarxism will come crashing down. The only question is how long it will take and how much damage will be done to the human condition in the meantime.

People worry about Islamic fascism. Not me. It's easy to see, over the top in its hate, and obvious to oppose. We can beat it because it's clear we must.

I worry about marxism cloaked in green because it's rot from within and so compellingly deceptive to so many people who are ill-equipped to question, challenge, or combat the big lie. I worry that there is no one challenging the enviromarxist orthodoxy on the American political scene.

Ours is the country of Reagan. And yet, a choice between McCain and Obama is the best we can do?

Personally, I'm starting to conclude that an Obama presidency, as disasterous as it would surely be, might be the better option since Obama is so much easier to oppose. If Carter gave us Reagan, what might Obama bring?

A McCain victory is unlikely to be much different an Obama win. There will still be a rise in misery, though maybe a little less. But coming from the GOP, McCain will remove a rallying point of opposition, leaving the path open to Clinton, the most evil of all "leaders" on the American political scene.

If four years of McCain could lead to eight of Clinton, could four years of Obama lead to eight of a yet unknown opposite to Clinton? Could four years of Obama halt the ebb towards tyranny and lead to a flow towards liberty?

I don't know the answers. I just know I can't tolerate any of the choices and seek some silver lining from the dark clouds forming over our nation and, from there, the world.

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