by Terri Buchman

The New York Times has an excellent blog called Dot Earth that is dedicated to discussing issues related to the environment, energy policy, endangered species and habitats, and global warming. The blog, written by Andrew C. Revkin, reported on the decision yesterday by the Interior Department, under Secretary Dick Kempthorne, to place the polar bears on this list of threatened species:

Three years after environmental groups sued to force the Interior Department to consider protecting polar bears under the Endangered Species Act, the Bush administration today listed the species as threatened — on track to be endangered by midcentury because of shrinking summer sea ice in a warming Arctic.

But the administration shaped its decision in a way that does not force restrictions on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, even though scientists have said the building greenhouse effect is the main influence driving up global temperatures. Administration officials added that existing protections of the bear, under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, were stringent and sufficient. And they also made clear that oil and gas exploration and extraction showed no evidence of harming the bears and would not be hindered by the decision.

Senator Kerry has been a long-time advocate in the Senate on this issue . He advocated for adding the polar bears to the list of threatened species, wrote a letter that was signed by ten other US Senators to delay a 30 million-acre oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, and wrote to Secretary Kempthorne to urge action to add the polar bears to the list of threatened species before the deadline for doing so expired.

Senator Kerry added a comment to the Dot Earth blog yesterday commenting on the Interior Department decision:

Today’s announcement was one big step towards confronting the reality of what climate change is doing to some of the world’s most endangered creatures living in some of our most fragile ecosystems. The polar bear has become the mascot of all we could lose to climate change and it is critical that we fight to save this species even as we wage a larger battle against global warming. Between one-sixth and one-fifth of the world’s polar bears live on the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Last summer, government scientists predicted that, as a result of climate change, polar bears may disappear from the U.S. and its waters entirely by 2050 – and that estimate doesn’t even take into account potential effects from new oil and gas activities.

So the question is – where do we go next? The clock is ticking. The next step is to secure the long-term survival of the species by ensuring that the polar bear habitat in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas is protected from the threat of oil and gas drilling. Here’s where the rubber hits the road: even while the Interior Department was slowly taking steps to give these bears ESA protection, the Bush Administration opened almost 30 million acres of polar bear habitat to oil and gas exploration, a move that by their own admission threaten polar bears. Again, don’t take my word for it: MMS itself acknowledged in its Final Environmental Impact Statement on Lease Sale 193 that oil and gas development will harass and ultimately even kill polar bears. Already, massive amounts of seismic activity are being planned for this summer in both the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.

Yes, today was a victory – but it’s up to all of us and some good old fashioned activism to make sure it’s not a pyrrhic one. I will fight hard to pass legislation I introduced early earlier this year in the Senate, which would halt all exploration activity in the Beaufort and Chukcki Seas at least until we better understand the full impact of drilling on the polar bear and other imperiled species.

- Posted by Senator John Kerry