BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- In a tacit
acknowledgment that global warming is effecting Earth's species, the Bush
administration is proposing to list the polar bear as an endangered species
because of warming temperatures in its habitat, according to The Washington
Post.
Bush has consistently rejected
scientific research that human activity contributes to global warming and
has resisted capping greenhouse gas emissions as bad for business and U.S.
workers.
The proposal, described by an Interior Department
official who spoke on condition of anonymity, marks the first time the
administration has identified climate change as the driving force behind the
potential demise of a species, the paper said on Wednesday.
"We've reviewed all the available data that leads us
to believe the sea ice the polar bear depends on has been receding," the
Interior official told the paper. "Obviously, the sea ice is melting because the
temperatures are warmer."
The Interior official said the decision to propose
polar bears as threatened with extinction "wasn't easy for us" because "there is
still some significant uncertainty" about what could happen to bear populations
in the future.
The official also said U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service officials have concluded that polar bears could be endangered
within 45 years, the report said.
The proposal was being submitted on Wednesday for
publication in the Federal Register, meeting a deadline under a legal settlement
with environmental advocacy groups that argue the government has failed to
respond quickly enough to the polar bear's plight.
One of the lawyers who filed suit against the administration, Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council
attorney, welcomed the proposal.
"It's such a loud recognition that global warming is real," Wetzler said. "It is rapidly threatening the polar bear and, in fact,
an entire ecosystem with utter destruction."
A spokesman for the Interior Department was not
immediately available for comment.
(Agencies)
