Bush v. Polar Bears

If you see any nature documentary involving polar bears they always mention how global warming is destroying their habitat and they are at risk. So polars bears are an endangered species right? Well not officially, they have to be put on the Endangered Species List and the Interior Department has been studying this for year.

It turns out they've been looking into another thing as well, whether to allow oil drilling in the arctic. You think these two things might be at all related? Not according to the Bush administration. And Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Ed Markey (D-MA) is pissed:

"For the Bush administration, today is the last day to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act before going ahead with an oil lease sale in the polar bear’s habitat. That oil drilling sale happens tomorrow. Yesterday, however, Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, whose office supervises both decisions, indicated that the delays on the polar bear decision under his watch will not prevent the oil lease sale from occurring, and went so far as to say the two issues -- oil drilling and the survival of the polar bear -- are not interconnected."

I'm actually not sure how I feel about drilling in the arctic. The common statistic thrown about against it is that there is only 6 months of oil there. The truth is that's 6 months of the entire US usage but it would come out more like 5% a year for 20 years. That's a significant amount and it could buy time to find alternative energy strategies (which I'm sure Bush wouldn't do but someone else might). I'm not sure how I feel about it affecting a pristine environment, as Alan Alda said in West Wing, no one visits there. Endangering polar bears also isn't good, but I don't know how much this will affect them. It should be factored into the decision, but it seems the Bush administration is deliberately trying to avoid that.

“This administration’s ‘drill first, ask questions later’ energy policy cannot continue,” continued Chairman Markey. “It is time to put the interests of an industry awash in profits aside for just a moment and consider the vast impacts the Bush administration’s foolish decisions have on an imperiled species and on the planet.” This might be overstating it a bit (it's also in US interests to use US oil), but not much.