March 2008
Cold As Ice
Polar bears, long the poster boys of environmental protection have recently hit the headlines with that "friend" of the environment, George W. Bush, and the story is even one that we at Pro Enviro touched upon in one of our previous articles.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is currently facing a legal challenge brought about by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Greenpeace, who claim that it is in breach of its own mandate.
The issue in question is whether the polar bear should be listed under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming, and the decision had been due on 9th January, a year after consultations began. But Agency Director, Dale Hall, stated in January that officials would require a few weeks more to process the technical data and the 650,000 plus comments it received on the issue. However, 2 months down the line and there is still no sign of action.
The environmental organisations have linked the recent sale of oil drilling rights in the bears’ native habitat as a key factor in the delay. In the meanwhile, over 30million acres of habitat in the Chuckchi Sea was sold to oil companies. This is even more galling to the environmentalists, as no hold was placed on the deals at a time when legislation was making its way through congress that required a decision on the status of the polar bears before drilling rights could be sold.
Critics of the FWS and the Bush administration believe that there is a strong case for the polar bears to be regarded as endangered, as both the UN and US Geological Survey consider them to be so. Yet they believe that "the Bush administration seems intent on slamming shut the narrow window of opportunity… to save polar bears."
Whilst there is a legal obligation to make a decision to list an endangered species on a purely scientific basis, campaigners feel that they cannot dismiss the spectre of oil rights in the background as a motivation for the FWS to drag their heels. "This administration has listed fewer species than any other — ever — under the Endangered Species Act," decried Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the CBD. "Time and again we have seen political interference in listing proposals that are supposed to be based on science."
The painfully slow process is also being replicated in the investigation into the original investigation. Just 2 weeks ago, the Interior Department's inspector general said it was beginning a preliminary investigation into why the department had not made a decision. One would be tempted to laugh at this farcical turn of events if the consequences were not so serious.
Most agonisingly, even though the FWS was legally bound to make a decision within a year, there remains the risk of a lengthy battle in the courts. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, but its progress may be held up by questions of justiciability, competence, and the reluctance of a court to rule on what could be regarded as a question of science, rather than a question of law.
Regardless, Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace USA, remains positive: "Our lawsuit has forced the Bush administration’s hand on the issue of global warming like no other." Siegel also concurs, "For seven years they have denied or downplayed global warming… this is the thing that has pinned them into a corner; either they go to court and lose, or acknowledge it."
Whatever transpires, we at Pro Enviro will be sure to let you know the outcome.
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