Feb 20, 2008

Polar Bears in Play

Conservation groups and the Los Angeles Times have played the polar bear card. Recently, both the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Los Angeles' dominant newspaper have reported on the plight of the polar bear. The WWF called for an immediate listing of polar bears under the Endangered Species Act and, in conjunction, a delay of an Alaska offshore oil and gas lease sale that, it says, threatens Arctic wildlife and habitats. The Times used the supposed plight of the polar bear to call attention to "global warming."

According to the WWF, oil and gas activities "pose a threat to polar bears whose survival is tenuous due to losses of Arctic sea ice from global warming." Oil spills can be lethal for a wide variety of wildlife from polar bears and ringed seals, down to the tiniest plankton, which aren't nearly as telegenic. WWF is alarmed at the Interior Department's plans for a lease sale of almost 30 million acres of what it calls "prime polar bear habitat" in Alaska's Chukchi Sea for oil and gas exploration before reaching a decision to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. Decisions on both the Endangered Species Act listing for polar bears, who other experts say are thriving, and on the oil and gas lease lie with Department of the Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. The WWF says "the science is unequivocal" and claims that repeated appeals for urgent action from the public, scientific and conservation organizations have been ignored.