News from the Swamp: Endangered bear?
In the Executive Branch: The Department of the Interior decided this week to list the polar bear as “threatened†under the Endangered Species Act, despite the fact that the number of polar bears has doubled in the last 40 years. Furthermore, the animal is already protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said, “Although the population of bears has grown from a low of about 12,000 in the late 1960s to approximately 25,000 today, our scientists advise me that computer modeling projects a significant population decline by the year 2050. This, in my judgment, makes the polar bear a threatened species—one likely to become in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future.†Are those the same “computer models†Al Gore used to predict that sea levels will rise 20 feet in the near future?

The Bush administration is capitulating completely to environmentalists with this listing, which will likely have no effect on polar bears but could have a very detrimental effect on our economy. For example, Persuading Congress to authorize drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been difficult enough without adding a false alarm about polar bears to existing roadblocks. Besides, global warming may or may not be happening, and the same may be true of a decline in the population of polar bears, but $200 a barrel for oil may be the price we pay for rash decisions. Meanwhile, look for the Australian jellyfish to be the Gulf of Mexico’s “endangered†animal to stop drilling there too.

Which equals doubled gas prices ...I heard from the Slope people were talking about $7 a gallon gasoline , in the lower 48 ..

Ya that was SEVEN DOLLARS A GALLON ....



When Capt. James Cook
"Discovered" Icy Strait , Glacier bay was a Glacier , not a bay ...
Global warming , like evolution is a political /social,, farce

Can you hunt them in the USA anyway?

Does Canada consider them threatened? (not endangered by the way) You can still hunt them if you want to.

And if you think drilling in ANWR is the answer, you don't understand the problem.

I don't see any reason to get excited. The price oil is going up, and it is expensive to go polar bear hunting.

...... Exploratory drilling isn,t at all ,, just about ANWR .. People who think so know nothing about Alaska,s North Slope ....

The red tape involved is amazing..
Weather they move into ANWR or not ...Pretty soon they will want to disarm every one any where on the Slope ........

I would much rather see a Mastodon than a polar bear ,,, No Mastodons ,, no polar bears , who gives a hoot .. Besides , it is just computer generated data they went with , not real ,.,.