The NRDC today announced they’d won a court case on behalf of olar bears. Of course, the feederal judge cannot really compell the current regime in D.C. to do anything and thus nothing will be done, but it could at least hold off increased hunting of polar bears by Americans going to Canada. And perhaps this ruling will make it easier for the next regime to take action in 2009.

“OAKLAND, CA – A federal judge has found the Bush administration guilty
of violating the Endangered Species Act and ordered the administration
to issue a final listing decision for the polar bear by May 15, 2008.
The polar bear, suffering as its Arctic sea ice habitat melts far faster
than forecast, is one of the world’s most imperiled animals due to
global warming.

The Honorable Claudia Wilkin ruled for the plaintiffs – Center for
Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace
- on all issues in finding that the Bush administration has violated the
law by missing the deadline for a final polar bear decision by nearly
four months. This decision is the result of a petition by the groups,
initially submitted in 2005, to list the polar bear under the Endangered
Species Act.

“Today’s decision is a huge victory for the polar bear,” said Kassie
Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity
and lead author of the 2005 petition seeking the Endangered Species Act
listing. “By May 15th the polar bear should receive the protections it
deserves under the Endangered Species Act, which is the first step
toward saving the polar bear and the entire Arctic ecosystem from global
warming.”

The Interior Department had requested an additional delay, until June
30, 2008, for its lawyers to finish reviewing and revising the decision.
The Court disallowed further delay, stating: “Defendants offer no
specific facts that would justify the existing delay, much less further
delay. To allow Defendants more time would violate the mandated listing
deadlines under the ESA and congressional intent that time is of the
essence in listing threatened species.”

“The federal court has thrown this incredible animal a lifeline,” said
Andrew Wetzler, director of NRDC’s Endangered Species Project. “The
Endangered Species Act requires the decision to be based solely on
science, and the science is absolutely unambiguous that the polar bear
deserves protection.”

Judge Wilkin also ordered that the listing decision take effect
immediately, forgoing a 30-day waiting period that applies unless
circumstances warrant faster action. In rejecting the administration’s
claim that the polar bear will not be harmed in the absence of
Endangered Species Act protection, the judge pointed to a pending
proposal to permit oil industry operations in the Chukchi Sea, and
stated: “Defendants fail to show that the thirty-day waiting period will
not pose a threat to the polar bear.”

“We have won in the court of public opinion and of law,” said Melanie
Duchin, Greenpeace global warming campaigner in Alaska. “We hope that
this decision marks the end of the Bush administration’s delays and
denial so that immediate action may be taken to protect polar bears from
extinction.”

Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are totally dependent on the sea
ice for all of their essential needs. The rapid warming of the Arctic
and melting of the sea ice pose an overwhelming threat to the polar
bear, already suffering starvation, drowning, and population declines as
its sea-ice habitat melts away.

Since the petition to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species
Act was first filed, new science paints a dim picture of the polar
bear’s future. In September, the U.S. Geological Survey predicted that
two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population would likely be extinct
by 2050, including all polar bears within the United States. Several
leading scientists now predict the Arctic could be ice-free in the
summer as early as 2012.

Listing the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act guarantees
federal agencies will be obligated to ensure that any action they
authorize, fund, or carry out will not jeopardize the polar bears’
continued existence or adversely modify their critical habitat, and the
Fish and Wildlife Service will be required to prepare a recovery plan
for the polar bear, specifying measures necessary for its protection.

In December 2005, the groups sued the Bush administration for failing to
respond to the original petition. In February of 2006, as a result of
that first lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that
protection of polar bears “may be warranted” and commenced a full status
review of the species. A settlement agreement in that case committed the
Service to make the second of three required findings in the listing
process by December 27, 2006, at which time the Service announced the
proposal to list the species as threatened. The proposed listing rule
was published in the Federal Register on January 9, 2007. By law, the
Service was required to make a final listing decision within one year of
the proposal. The Service ignored the January 9, 2008 statutory deadline
for making a final decision, prompting the current lawsuit.

# # #

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit
conservation organization with more than 40,000 members dedicated to the
protection of endangered species and wild places.
www.biologicaldiversity.org

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organization with 2.7 million
members worldwide that uses peaceful protest and creative communication
to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions for the
future. www.greenpeace.org

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit
organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists
dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in
1970, NRDC has 1.2 million members and online activists, served from
offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Beijing. www.nrdc.org”