Posted on 05/15/2008 3:37:20 AM PDT by fweingart
The Bush Administration named the polar bear to the “threatened species” list based on computer predictions of the anticipated loss of sea ice due to global warming Tuesday.
“Computer models predict sea ice is likely to recede in the future,” said Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. “They [polar bears] are in my judgment likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future, in this case 45 years.”
Kempthorne used a series of slides showing images of decrease polar sea ice while making his announcement. They are available here.
The polar bear’s classification as “threatened” is a step below “endangered”—a classification which would trigger massive environmental protections that would prevent energy and oil exploration in Alaska.
Officials said an “endangered” listing could not be made because there was not enough scientific evidence that greenhouse gas emissions where causing the sea ice to melt.
Kempthorne said, “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.”
To prevent the environmental lobby from using this listing as a means to prevent domestic energy development Kempthorne proposed a rule to allow this type of activity in the area if it is permissible under standards dictated by the Mammal Protection Act.
This rule has not been adopted.
This decision was spurred by The Center for Biological Diversity, a group that sued the Department of Interior, along with Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council, to make a decision about listing the polar bear as “endangered” based on global warming concerns. The environmental lobby argues global warming has melted sea ice that polar bears walk on when hunting seals. Less ice, their logic follows, exposes the bears to drowning, cannibalism and starvation.
Their complaints come as U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services reports the polar bear population is on the rise. FWS estimates there are currently 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears, up from a record-low population of 5,000 to 10,000 in the 1950’s and 1960’s
I hate my government!
(Gotta love those cute cuddly little polar bears though.)
The imbeciles were the upgrade in brainpower.
The polar bears are not and never were in danger. But this is an additional club to be used in the CO2-global warming controversy. In the name of reducing the “danger” to polar bears, the whole cap-and-trade of “carbon credits” will become an established fact, and also a source of new taxation, because we “need” to control the CO2 content of the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is plant food. To encourage the optimal growth of plants, the CO2 content of the atmosphere should be about three times or more what it now is.
By the way, what was the “carbon footprint” of that volcano that blew last week in Chile? I would bet that in hours it exceeded even the annual output of China, and it is still spewing.
Things should be put back in perspective on this planet. We are overdue for a hit from an asteroid about five kiloters in diameter or so.
Let’s see, right over the middle of the Pacific ocean. The ejecta from that hit would include a considerable amount of water, then because the water scarcely slowed it down, the mantle of the earth would be cracked like a fragile eggshell, allowing the molten magma to erupt and follow the water into the ejection zone. This means that a new band of small satellite pieces will go into irregular orbit about the earth, if they do not escape the earth’s gravational field altogether. The entire earth’s surface would vibrate like a bell that was just rung, and a huge surge wave would travel around the oceans of the entire planet, with inevitable results to all seacoast localities.
Tectonic plates would be lifted then dropped, setting up a ripple of earthquakes of unparalleled destruction resulting in enormous amounts of gaseous releases from subterranean cavities, of which carbon dioxide would be the most benign of all. Sulfur dioxide, volatized petroleum, methane, even hydrogen sulfide, which would encourage the image of Hell opening up.
We are not done. The surge wave rushes back into to the white-hot caldera where the asteroid hit in the first place, and is instantly volatized into superheated steam, which rises in the atmosphere, condensing and falling as unending rain, perhaps for decades, as the caldera cools only slowly.
There will be survivors. Unfortunately, they will probably not include the polar bear, as the temperature of the entire planet would be dialed up rather quickly, and the melting of the icecaps at both polar regions will proceed quite rapidly, leaving no habitat. Unless, of course, the polar bears can turn to scavenging the bloated bodies of the dead caribou and seals tossed up far from the seacoast, and unable to struggle back to the water.
Al Gore is lacking in imagination. He cannot conceive of a REAL catastrophe.
Quick, someone tell the President you can make Ethanol out of Polar Bears!
Mark
Geez! Pretty soon we’ll be chasing these stupid bears off our porches.
Computer mnodels don’t predict anything, computer programmers do all the predicting.
If computers existed in 1880, computer models would have predicted that by 2010 New York City would be under 25 feet of horse sh!t !!!!!!
Well, there goes the drilling.
I dunno about ethanol, but you definitely can make biodiesel out of polar bears!...............
This decision could well eliminate probably the largest oil reservoir now known (not Anwar) from the possibility of Amerian and probably European exploitation and reserves it for Russia or the Chinese. It seems to turn over much of the American economy to the Enviromentalists/Communists. Its effect, after a few court cases, could be complementary to and just as devastating as Amnesty will be. Stroke of the pen-
Dennis Prager has summed it up succinctly and correctly.
We live in the Age of Stupidity.
Maybe we can get Bush to declare conservatives and endangered species. There would be all kinds of things we would be entitled to then.
FWS estimates there are currently 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears, up from a record-low population of 5,000 to 10,000 in the 1950’s and 1960’s
We need to celebrate our president's closing any further debate about drilling for nasty oil in our valuable 'Pristine Arctic Wilderness.'
(It just makes me want to puke! Polar Bear Burgers, anyone?)
The New GOP Campaign Sticker: Polar Bears Need Our Compassion- It’s a Change We Can Believe In!!!
Maybe China and Australia will take our polar bears and we can use some panda bears and koala bears up there as the Arctic starts growing eucalyptus and bamboo. Do they need polar bears in China?
I can think far badder than that. The Gov of Alaska, Sarah Palin says it might not be a disaster to the oil/gas industry but she didn't sound real heartening. About all we need now is O'Bama to close the military bases in Alaska.
There he goes again! Our El Presidente Bushie stealing Democrap slogans to help his embattled party!
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