Nearly three years ago environmental groups began demanding that the U.S. Government protect the polar bear by adding it to the list of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. This suggestion is being based on a theory that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are warming the planet, causing ice in the arctic region to melt putting the bear at risk of survival. Some scientists back that claim while just as many refute it as only a theory based on poor models.

Over a year ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that they would consider listing the bear and would begin researching to determine whether the bear needs increased protection. Such a decision would be the first time that an animal would be listed based on climate speculation and not on hard evidence of loss of habitat, etc.

From the moment the USFWS made its announcement it seemed that environmentalists and Bush haters lined up believing that it was only a matter of time before the official announcement was made that the bear would be listed. Back in January I wrote an article saying that it didn’t really matter whether the bear was listed or not, there would be no satisfaction.

I have already come to the conclusion that unless the Bush administration, more specifically the Department of the Interior, determines that the world is coming to an end, the first to go are polar bears, that we should all double our taxes to protect them, sell off all our defense weapons, retreat from Iraq and have all the first born in the republican families killed, there will be no satisfaction.

I have read that according to federal law, the USFWS had one year from the time of their announcement that they were going to consider listing the bear, to make a final announcement. That one year time frame has come and gone and some continue their uncontrolled anger because bears aren’t protected yet.

You see, it isn’t a matter of being anxious to learn and understand the science behind the decision, whether the bear is listed or not, it’s about getting the bear listed so that Americans can be further controlled through increased taxation, limits on growth and a myriad of other stifling events that will transpire if the bear is protected in this fashion.

People, like Barbara Boxer, head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, have already made up their minds what it is they want - the bear listed. She and others are not interested in any science. In her mind Al Gore is next to godliness and has all the answers about climate change, say nothing about the fact he’s a failed politician and not a scientist. In short, she, like others, have made up their mind the bear will be listed and will settle for nothing short of that.

Yesterday, Boxer held a meeting, in which she wanted answers as to why the USFWS was taking so long to make their final announcement about the bear. Several were invited to testify, including Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who notified Boxer he would not be attending because he was named in a lawsuit about the listing of polar bears by environmental groups.

This infuriated Boxer and she let the public know about it. But she also made statements that back my claim that she has already made up her mind and would probably blow a gasket if Kempthorne were to announce the bear is doing fine.

Boxer and others want to blame Bush because he wants to drill for oil and gas, which Kempthorne says doesn’t matter. If the bear is listed, it doesn’t matter if oil drilling has begun or not, it would still be regulated by the Endangered Species Act. Boxer first indicates she wants the bear listed in this comment she made and was reported on MSNBC website.

“There’s a rush to drill, and no rush to list” polar bears as threatened, Boxer said.

She also expressed that the Bush administration has had enough time to list the bear.

“Two months ago, this committee heard testimony from legal and scientific experts about the consequences of melting polar sea ice on the polar bear,” she said.

Further evidence Boxer doesn’t really care about the other side of science in this matter, she laments even more.

“And sadly, despite the peer-reviewed scientific evidence; despite the opinions of scientists in our own government; despite the fact that we have a strong, successful law to protect imperiled species — the Endangered Species Act — the Bush Administration continues to break the law by failing to make a final decision to list the polar bear.”

So what’s the point of all this? Why do we have a USFWS? Is it because we can fund them with millions of dollars so that they can spend most or all of that money fighting lawsuits? It appears that as far as Boxer is concerned, the science is settled, the world is coming to an end and if the Bush administration doesn’t do things her way, she will fall down and begin banging her head on the floor.

By definition from the Endangered Species Act, the polar bear is not threatened. The population has doubled in recent years and science is now questioning the models that have been used in trying to predict what will happen to sea ice in the arctic. But all of this really doesn’t matter now does it? Science isn’t important. Nothing is important when a persons mind is already made up.

Perhaps the USFWS will have an announcement by early summer. It will be real interesting to see how this all goes and if I don’t get my way on this, you better watch out or I’ll resort to temper tantrums.

Tom Remington

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