Back to Court

Center for Biological Diversity

Bush's May 14th decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species contained a cynical "special rule" designed to prevent the listing from having any impact on global warming.

The administration admitted that the polar bear is spiraling toward extinction due to global warming, but brazenly refused to do anything about it. It even admitted that its goal was to keep the oil wells flowing and the power plants polluting.

Time is short for the polar bear, so with lightning speed the Center for Biological Diversity and its allies at NRDC and Greenpeace hauled the Bush administration back to court on Friday to challenge the "special rule."

When the Center wrote the scientific petition to protect the polar bear in 2005, we expected Bush to use every trick in the book to avoid protecting it. He has, but thus far we've turned him back at every step. We won two previous lawsuits to get this far. You can be sure we'll win this one as well.

Center for Biological Diversity



Arizona Daily Star, Maio 21, 2008
Critics: Polar bear plan must fight global warming
By Dan Joling (Associated Press)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Conservation groups returned to court to challenge Bush administration efforts to help save the polar bear, saying federal officials' refusal to include steps against global warming violates the Endangered Species Act.

In court documents filed late Friday, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups asked a federal judge to reject Interior Department actions that were announced last week.

Polar bears are threatened with extinction in many areas because of the melting of their sea ice habitat. The groups say greenhouse gas emissions have led to rapid melting in the Arctic.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, facing a court deadline because of the groups' earlier lawsuit, had announced Wednesday that polar bears would be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act...But he rejected the addition of broad steps to reduce greenhouse gases, saying he would not allow the Endangered Species Act to be "misused" to regulate global climate change.

Kassie Siegel, climate director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said the administration's proposal "violates both logic and the law" because it did not address the primary threat to polar bears.