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The polar bear won the “threatened” tag under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but it turned out to be a smoke screen. Why do I call it a smokescreen? Because, when Interior Secretary, Dirk Kempthorne, deemed polar bears as “threatened”, he also issued “special regulations” to ensure that the power plants and oil and gas industry are not affected by the decision — they can still spew their gas which affects global warming.

Because of this Endangered Species Act decision — the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and the Natural Resources Defense Council filed court papers against the Bush administration for trying to avoid actually protecting the polar bear. The new lawsuit is meant to ensure that the polar bear and its habitat are fully protected.

Knut’s reaction to the ESA ruling

Bear hugs, Frankie

P.S. For more great pictures, facts, videos, click Are You Polar Bear Aware.

P.P.S. If you want to know what you can do to protect polar bears and other endangered species, contact The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) at National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am and is filed under Endangered, Endangered Species Act, Knut, NWF, bear, climate change, extinction, global warming, polar bears. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.