Wildlife and People

Listed as “threatened” not “endangered”. One step below full panic attack. If global warming happens, as the latest models indicate it will not, then in 40 years there might be less polar bears than today. Maybe. In 40 years. If Algorish hysterical alarmist kooks are correct in their predictions. Which they have not been so far.

This is what we get when wankers subvert and take over the government. Everybody get hysterical now. It’s the In Thing to do.

The Sierra Club reaction is below. Note they express no scientific evidence that polar bears populations are threatened. Indeed, they avoid discussion of population dynamics entirely, and they also all but ignore the alleged “problem” of global warming (for which the polar bear was listed).

Instead the Sierra Club (in the person of Carl Pope) attacks “Big Oil” and implies that oil drilling is putting polar bears at risk. However, the Arctic is big, very big, and oil drilling would impact less than one percent of it. And polar bears do not mind oil drilling or pipelines, but frequent such areas.

The actual concern of the Sierra Club is to quash energy development and use, and thereby cripple industrial economies (and like dominoes, non-industrial economies as well). Their hammer and sickle are far-reaching “environmental” laws that undermine our Constitution and national sovereignty.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 14 , 2008 [here]

CONTACT: Kristina Johnson 415.977.5619

Bush Administration Lists Polar Bear in Name Only

Interior Department Plan Will Allow Destructive Energy Development; Attacks Integrity of Endangered Species Act

Statement of Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope

“After months of delay, the Interior Department has finally recognized that polar bears are on the brink of extinction. But the administration’s decision is riddled with loopholes, caveats, and backhanded language that could actually undermine protections for the polar bear and other species.

“We can’t protect polar bears unless we combat global warming and keep oil drills out of their habitat. Yet, the administration is so keen to appease Big Oil they tout the continuation of drilling—in spite of the listing—in the headline of their press release.

“Allowing destructive energy development in polar bear habitat is akin to diagnosing someone with lung cancer and then handing them a lit cigarette. There is no environmentally-sound way to drill in polar bear habitat. Drilling would inundate polar bear habitat with pipelines, well pads, boat traffic, ice-breaking vessels, and seismic blasting, not to mention the ever-present threat of oil spills.

“The Bush administration’s sham plan also proposes changes that could gut the Endangered Species Act and prevent it from ever being used to actually protect the polar bear or address global warming—which is precisely what is pushing the bear toward extinction.

“We don’t need to sacrifice polar bears and other wildlife just so Big Oil can add to their tens of billions in record profits. America already has the technology and the will to embrace a clean energy economy that will end our dangerous dependence on oil, fight global warming, and leave wild, pristine places like the Arctic intact.

“We can turn to clean energy today, and leave our grandchildren a world where polar bears don’t just live in zoos.

“If we hope to save polar bears, Congress must act now to combat global warming, keep drills out of polar bear habitat, and stop the Bush administration from further undermining the Endangered Species Act and our other fundamental environmental laws.”

Sen. James Inhofe’s reaction [here]:

WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today expressed disappointment with the U.S. Department of Interior’s final decision to list the polar bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

“Unfortunately, the decision to list the polar bear as ‘threatened’ appears to be based more on politics than science,” Senator Inhofe said. “With the number of polar bears substantially up over the past forty years, the decision announced today appears to be based entirely on unproven computer models. The decision, therefore, is simply a case of reality versus unproven computer models, the methodology of which has been challenged by many scientists and forecasting experts. If the models are invalid, then the decision based on them is not justified. It’s disappointing that Secretary Kempthorne failed to stand up to liberal special interest groups who advocated this listing.

“Lost in the debate is the fact that polar bear numbers have dramatically increased over the past forty years – a fact even liberal environmental activists are forced to concede. According to Canadian scientists, 11 of the 13 bear populations are stable, with some increasing. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now estimates that there are currently 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears. These numbers are substantially up from lows estimates in the range of 5,000-10,000 in the 1950s and 1960s. Credit should be given to protection already provided the polar bear by way of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the several international conservation treaties including the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears and the U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Conservation and Management Act of 2006, as well as conservation, education, and outreach agreement with native peoples.

“Today’s decision will have far reaching consequences. Liberal special interests have employed hundreds of lawyers to try and convert current environmental laws such as the Endangered Species Act into climate laws. Yet the ESA is simply not equipped to regulate economy-wide greenhouse gases, nor does the Fish and Wildlife Service have the expertise to be a pollution control agency. The regulatory tools of the ESA function best when at-risk species are faced with local, tangible threats. Greenhouse gas emissions are not local. The implications of today’s decision, therefore, will undoubtedly lead to a drastic increase in litigation and eager lawyers ready to use this listing to do exactly what they have intended to do all along – shut down energy production.”

La Jolla, CA- In light of this week’s decision to add the Polar Bear to the Endangered (whoops, Threatened) Species list and the recent California Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage, the San Diego City Council has issued a formal invitation to all gay polar bears to relocate to what was formerly known as “Children’s Pool” in La Jolla.

“Because this enclosed sandy grotto was specifically designated as a safe place for children to swim in the 1920’s, but is now cordoned off as a seal breeding ground, we can assure any Polar Bears wishing to relocate a healthy diet of fresh seal meat year-round,” commented City Council Member Bonbon Cashigrab.

As an added incentive for bear relocation, the city is offering unlimited free margaritas (including tiny umbrellas) and freshly oiled tan and tasty pool-boys to deliver them as the bears luxuriate by the water’s edge.

Although unprecedented, the City of La Jolla views this move as a way to increase the tax-base through eco-tourism as gawkers flock to the lovely and temperate shores of La Jolla to watch the shiny, happy (recently hitched gay) bears feed (on the gawkers and pool boys, as well the handy seals).