I’m having trouble reconciling this bit of news with the administration’s stance on global warming:
The Bush administration has decided to propose listing the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, putting the U.S. government on record as saying that global warming could drive one of the world’s most recognizable animals out of existence.
[snip]
“We’ve reviewed all the available data that leads us to believe the sea ice the polar bear depends on has been receding,” said the Interior official, who added that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have concluded that polar bears could be endangered within 45 years. “Obviously, the sea ice is melting because the temperatures are warmer.”
One cannot very well say the ice is melting due to warmer temperatures, and simultaneously insist that temperatures are not warming. Either the left and right hands are off doing their own things in a vacuum, or the Bush administration is considering making a 180 degree position turn to the polar opposite. Sort of:
Still, the official added that the decision to propose polar bears as threatened with extinction “wasn’t easy for us” because “there is still some significant uncertainty” about what could happen to bear populations in the future.
“This proposal is sort of like a scientific hypothesis. You put this out there and say to the world, ‘Tell us, is this right or is this wrong?’ ” the official said, adding that Interior will hold several public hearings about its proposal. “We’re projecting what we think will happen in the future, not just what’s happening at this moment.”
Ah… yes… the “tell us whether we should say this or not” approach. Nothing like a firm maybe.