Court Orders Administration to Stop Dragging Feet on Polar Bear's Fate
A federal judge has ordered the Bush Administration to issue a final decision by May 15 on whether it will grant federal protection to the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Siding with NRDC, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups, the court found the Bush Administration guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act when it ignored the January 9, 2008 deadline for making a final decision. The court said the administration had presented "no specific facts that would justify the existing delay, much less further delay." The court also ruled that a final decision in favor of protecting the polar bear must take effect immediately, citing a pending proposal to permit oil industry operations in the Chukchi Sea – an area of vital importance to polar bears. If the polar bear is granted federal protection, all such proposals to lease or drill its habitat will be subject to increased scrutiny. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts has introduced a bill that would bar further leasing and drilling activity in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas until the impacts of drilling on polar bears are fully understood. Act now!
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  NRDC Files Suit to Save Key Polar Bear Habitat from Oil Drilling
 On February 6, the Bush Administration leased nearly 30 million acres of sensitive polar bear habitat in the Chukchi Sea for destructive oil and gas drilling. Record-setting bids from the Shell oil company and six other oil giants totaled $3.3 billion. The administration proceeded with the sale despite the oil industry's failure to develop an effective method to clean up oil in broken-ice waters. Oil-covered polar bears have almost no chance of survival. Once exposed to spilled oil, polar bears would almost certainly die from ingesting it while trying to clean themselves. NRDC and our partners will fight in federal court until the Bush Administration cancels these lease sales and examines the risk of spills and other environmental impacts from oil and gas development in vital polar bear habitat.
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Two-thirds of Polar Bears Could Perish by 2050
 The U.S. Geological Survey reports that thinning sea ice from global warming could kill off two-thirds of the world's polar bears (including the entire Alaskan population) by mid-century. But the report contains a ray of hope: Some populations of bears could survive if long-term warming trends are reversed.
Click here to read the report summary
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