Polar bear decision, or indecision, criticized

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Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) pulled no punches Wednesday at a Senate hearing, criticizing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for failing to appear before her panel to explain why the Bush administration delayed a decision on whether to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act.

The deadline for a decision on listing Alaska’s polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act was Jan. 9, the Associated Press reports. Conservation groups petitioned to list polar bears as threatened more than three years ago because their habitat, sea ice, is shrinking from global warming, many scientists say.

In a letter to Boxer, Kempthorne said he ‘respectfully’ declined her invitation to appear before the Senate Environment Committee because he is a named defendant in a lawsuit over the polar bear listing filed by an environmental group.

‘It’s wrong that Mr. Kempthorne is not here,’ Boxer said after the hearing in Washington, which went on without an appearance from Kempthorne or any other administration official. ‘I like him, but it’s wrong.’

-Francisco Vara-Orta