Summit County Citizens Voice

Polar bears won’t get much help from a new protection plan proposed by the Obama administration. PHOTO COURTESY USFWS/SCOTT SCHLIEBE.

Conservation groups say administration abdicating responsibility for dealing head-on with global warming, the main threat to the endangered Arctic predators

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A proposed rule aimed at protecting endangered polar bears doesn’t even mention how the federal government will address global warming, which is seen as the primary threat to the Arctic predators.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will publish the proposed rule and a draft environmental study in the Federal Register on April 19, starting a 60-day public comment period. The proposed new rule would replace a 2008 version issued under the Bush administration that was voided by a federal court in 2011.

Conservation groups immediately blasted the proposed new rule as a gift to oil companies, because it basically results in business as usual. The only change is the addition of an underlying environmental study.

“As such, the Service’s management and conservation efforts for the polar bear will not change if this proposed special rule is finalized,” the agency wrote in a press release announcing the proposed rule. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, climate and weather, endangered species, Environment, global warming | Tagged: endangered species act, global warming, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Polar bear conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 10 Comments »