User:Clayoquot/Conservation status of the polar bear in the United States


 * (Alternate title: Polar bear policy in the United States)
 * (Alternate title: Environmental law and the polar bear in the United States)
 * (Alternate title: United States environmental law and the polar bear)

Lead
The conservation status of the polar bear in the United States refers to the inclusion, known as "listing" of the polar bear species in the U.S. Endangered Species Act. On May 14, 2008 the U.S. Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, citing the melting of Arctic sea ice as the primary threat to the polar bear. In the ESA, a threatened species is defined as a species likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future defined as a species likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant part of their range.

The polar bear is the third species, after the elkhorn coral and the staghorn coral, to be protected under the Endangered Species Act due to global warming.

Background
(briefly summarize conservation issues from main article)

Internationally, the polar bear has been classified by the IUCN as a vulnerable species since XXXX (briefly explain why). The IUCN uses a different system for measuring conservation status than the U.S., with different terminology.

History
The 2008 listing of the polar bear as a threatened species followed several years of controversy and allegations of politically-motivated delays.

On February 17, 2005 the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition asking that the polar bear be listed under the Endangered Species Act. An agreement was reached and filed in Federal district court on June 5, 2006. Pursuant to that agreement, on January 9, 2007, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the polar bear as a threatened species.

By law, a final decision was required within one year of the proposal, however on January 9, 2008, the agency said it needed another month. On March 7, 2008, the inspector general of the U.S. Interior Department began a preliminary investigation into why the decision had been delayed for nearly two months.

The investigation took place in response to a letter signed by six environmental groups that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director Dale Hall violated the agency's scientific code of conduct by delaying the decision unnecessarily, allowing the government to proceed with an auction for oil and gas leases in the Alaska's Chukchi Sea, an area of key habitat for polar bears. The auction took place in early February 2008. An editorial in The New York Times said that "these two moves are almost certainly, and cynically, related." Hall denied any political interference in the decision and said that the delay was needed to make sure the decision was in a form easily understood. On April 28, 2008, a Federal court ruled that a decision on the listing must be made by May 15, 2008; the decision came on May 14.

Exemption for regulation of greenhouse gas emissions
Immediately after announcing the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, the Interior Department issued a statement that the listing could not be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, saying, "That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the Endangered Species Act. ESA is not the right tool to set U. S. climate policy."

The Endangered Species Act requires the government to "adopt all measures necessary for the conservation of threatened species", however it allows the creation special rules, known as "4(d)" rules that can exempt some management restrictions for threatened species. The exemption limiting the use of the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions was one such 4(d) rule, and was finalized in December 2008. This rule became known as the "polar bear rule".

The polar bear rule was immediately controversial, with letters protesting it signed by over 130 environmental groups, more than 1,000 scientists and 31 law professors.

However, some policy analysts believe that despite the Bush administration's stance, the Endangered Species Act can be used to restrict the issuing of federal permits for projects that would threaten the polar bear by increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental groups have pledged to go to court to have the Endangered Species Act interpreted in such a way.

Hunting
The main new protection for polar bears under the terms of the listing is that hunters will no longer be able to import trophies from the hunting of polar bears in Canada.

Oil and gas exploration
When listing the polar bear as a threatened species, the Bush administration added a seldom-used stipulation to allow oil and gas exploration and development to proceed in areas inhabited by polar bears, provided companies continue to comply with the existing restrictions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. However, this rule was reversed by the Obama administration on April 28, 2009, which declared that oil and gas development in polar bear habitat must be cleared through consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Criticism
Criticism of the listing has come from...

The listing of the species has been criticized...

In August 4, 2008, the state of Alaska sued U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, seeking to reverse the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, out of concern that the listing would adversely affect oil and gas development in the state. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said that the listing was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available, a view rejected by polar bear experts.