US lists polar bear as threatened species

Yahoo! News The Interior Department declared the polar bear a threatened species Wednesday

Even though their numbers are increasing and they are not endangered.

because of the loss of Arctic sea ice but also cautioned the decision should not be viewed as a path to address global warming.

Which isn't happening.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses,

The bear population across the Arctic from Alaska to Greenland doubled from about 12,000 to 25,000 since 1960

meaning, he said, that the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future. But Kempthorne said it would be "wholly inappropriate" to use the protection of the bear to reduce greenhouse gases, or to broadly address climate change.... Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called it "a lifeline for our last remaining polar bears" but said the bear's survival won't be assured without limits on oil development in the same Arctic waters where the bears are found.

Unfortunately all Sen Kennedy will limit is US oil development, not other countries, so this is yet another case of the Democrats making us MORE dependent on foreign oil, even our own oil developed by other countries.