The US government on Wednesday declared the polar bear a threatened species under federal environmental protection laws, a ruling that may further limit efforts to develop US energy resources in Alaska. The Interior Department said it is listing the polar bear as a threatened species, “
based on the best available science, which shows that loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat”.
Advocates of increased US domestic energy development - including many in the US Congress - have long sought access to oil and gas reserves in the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) on Alaska’s north coast. The US chemicals industry, which is heavily dependent on natural gas as a feedstock, and the broader manufacturing sector have been appealing to Congress to open ANWR and other US onshore and offshore reserves to development.
Environmentalists have opposed drilling in the refuge on grounds it would disrupt and endanger the wildlife that ANWR was created to protect. Former president Bill Clinton vetoed a congressionally approved ANWR drilling programme in 1995. Under the ESA, an animal group termed threatened could be elevated to the endangered category, which would require broad restrictions on human activity in and around the animal’s habitat. Despite the ruling, Dirk Kempthorne said the US nevertheless can “continue to develop our natural resources in the arctic region in an environmentally sound way”.
Because of the Interior Department ruling, anyone seeking energy development or any other facility construction in polar bear habitat will have to obtain a permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Source:
US says polar bear threatened; limits energy work
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