Polar bear now listed as 'threatened' species

Polar bears will now be listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

But in announcing the listing, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said the decision should not be "misused" to regulate global climate change.

"Listing the polar bear as threatened can reduce avoidable losses of polar bears. But it should not open the door to use of the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, power plants, and other sources," said Kempthorne.

"That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the ESA law. The ESA is not the right tool to set U.S. climate policy."

While there are an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears now in the Arctic, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey predict two thirds of the world's polar bears will disappear in the next 50 years because of a decline in Arctic sea ice.

Controversy over the status of the polar bear is tied to the fact that this is the first time a species has been considered for listing specifically because its habitat is threatened by global warming.

The announcement is getting mixed reviews.

Some environmental groups are wary of some of the climate change caveats to the decision, saying it weakens protection for the animals.

"This decision is a watershed event because it has forced the Bush administration to acknowledge global warming's brutal impacts," said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

"It's not too late to save the polar bear, and we'll keep fighting to ensure that the polar bear gets the help it needs through the full protections of the Endangered Species Act. The administration's attempts to reduce protection to the polar bear from greenhouse gas emissions are illegal and won't hold up in court," said Siegel.

But other animal protection organizations praised the decision.

"Today's decision is a tremendous victory for one of the world's most iconic and charismatic animals," said Carter Roberts, president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund US on the group's Web site. "The other big winner today is sound science, which has clearly trumped politics, providing polar bears a new lease on life."

Some members of Congress are less than thrilled with the decision.

Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Massachusetts, is Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

"After years of delay, the Bush administration was forced to face the reality that global warming has endangered the polar bear and that the polar bear needs to be placed on the Endangered Species Act," said Markey in a statement to CNN. "But the administration has also simultaneously announced a rule aimed at allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic to continue unchecked even in the face of the polar bear's threatened extinction. Essentially, the administration is giving a gift to Big Oil, and short shrift to the polar bear."