More Hell-arious Polar Bear News

Farewell Polar Bear!

Obama team OK with Bush polar bear climate rule

[Independent] Polar Bear Mum to Ken Salazar: We know why you and that lawyer in the White House hate our guts.  But, what if we moved to the White House and butt-kicked the lot of you to Alaska?”

“The Obama administration said on Friday it will keep a Bush-era rule that weakens protection for polar bears’ icy habitat and plays down links between the threatened status of the species and climate change.” Reuters reported.

“Seeing the polar bear’s habitat melting and an iconic species threatened is an environmental tragedy of the modern age,” U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a telephone briefing.

“The best course of action for protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act is to wisely implement the current rule, not revoke it at this time,” which would cause confusion, Salazar said.

Kenneth Lee “Ken” Salazar 50th United States Secretary of the Interior seen in this undated photo wearing a flag pin to prove something. The wrong person for the wrong job in the wrong administration in the wrong country at a wrong time doing all the wrong things and telling the same lies.

A spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity, among other environmental groups questioning the decision, wondered how the Obama team’s argument could possibly be relevant because the Endangered Species Act does not  deal with large-scale threats like extinction, but it was meant to limit the use of the pesticide DDT.

Punching the air with joy, Alaska’s oil and gas Senator Lisa Murkowski said she was overwhelmed with the department’s decision to retain the existing rule, “which provides rational measures for the protection of polar bears within their natural range.”

And if the polar bears’ natural range keeps on shrinking? Hey, look, we are all human, aren’t we? Look at the blaze in Santa Barbara county!

Related Links:

• Hilarious Polar Bear News!
• It’s All About Big Oil, Stupid!
• The Billionaires’ contribution to CO2 pollution
• How Much Carbon Dioxide Does Your Money Make?

The right to disturb wildlife!!

BP and Shell Rights Come First!

[WTF]

A week after U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline declared that “the balance of hardships” is in favor of the BP and Shell, “who have invested significant time [never mind nature’s 4.55 billion year investment] and expense in preparing for the scheduled activities,” and dismissed lawsuit against exploration permits granted by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the MMS, two environmental groups filed a lawsuit yesterday against new federal regulations that grants permission to oil companies to disturb the polar bears and walrus in the Chukchi Sea.

The Pacific Walrus: “ah may be ugly, but ah ain’t dumb, an’ ah ain’t hurting no one!” [Image: NOAA]

“The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage, challenges regulations issued last month by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that allow ‘incidental takes’ of the animals, meaning permission to disturb or accidentally harass them as long as such actions do not result in physical injury or death.” Reuters reported.

Polar bears were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in May, and a similar petition seeking protections to the Pacific walrus has since been submitted. More …

An aerial view of the oil spill from Statfjord A platform in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea December 12, 2007. About 25,000 barrels of oil spilled into the Norwegian sector of the North Sea near the Statfjord oilfield on Wednesday, field operator StatoilHydro and oil officials said. REUTERS/Kystverket (The Norwegian Coastal Administration) via Scanpix Norway (NORWAY) NORWAY OUT NO COMMERCIAL USE

[MMS: the U.S. Minerals Management Service]

Related Links:

• Death by Lethal Pollution
• Bering Sea Drilling Revisited!