JohnMay 13th, 2008 - 23:28:37

I don't know if its about polar bears or big oil... In order to stop oil drilling the bears must be declared endangered. polar bears were around when greenland was green and I see no reason to believe that they wont adapt as they did before to a warmer climate. asking for endangered status for a animal thats doing just fine smacks of a alternative agenda. they hate big oil with a passion and will do anything to stop the oil drilling...

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Arthur E. LemayMay 14th, 2008 - 13:36:35

This article is biased and inaccurate, and does not describe the true implications of making the polar bear an endangered species.

Polar bears have survived under much more adverse climate situations than we have today, and the levels of the ice packs have more than recovered from the melting of recent years. In fact, recent climate changes have almost reversed a century of warming, and scientists, even the IPCC, say that we are faced with at least a decade of cooling.

There is no evidence that warming will restart after 10 years, but on this opinion without any basis, environmentalists are lobbying heavily to put the polar bear onto the endangered species list. This is an unprecedented act because, unlike the snail darter case, the projects which might be affected are national in scope.

If you read the Sierra Club web site, you will find that the environmentalists are litigating any and all projects which use coal for energy production. Putting the polar bear on the protected species list means that any project which emits, or indirectly causes CO2 emissions to increase can be challenged in court as violating the 1973 Protected Species act.

This means that environmentalists will have a legal argument to stop virtually all development for new factories, freeways, housing developments, power plants, refineries, and any other project which increases CO2 emissions -- in other words, everything we do.

There are public officials like Jerry Brown, California's Attorney General, who has sued counties for issuing construction permits for new housing developments. He had to stop doing this under California law, but if the polar bear goes on the endangered species list, he will be able to stop virtually all new growth. This has been his policy for years, because he is an environmentalist.

Environmentalists will have the power to stop America in its tracks. And, this is precisely what they want to do.

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