"The single greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of Arctic Sea ice due to climate change," Salazar said in a conference call announcing the decision. But the Endangered Species Act "is not the appropriate tool for us to deal with what is a global issue," he added.
Like Bush administration officials before them, Interior officials said it would be impossible to directly link any one factory or power plant to the decline in polar ice, and thus impractical to regulate their emissions.
Environmental groups promised to sue.
"It just doesn't make any sense to recognize that the polar bear is threatened and then exempt the primary threat to the species," said Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director for the Center for Biological Diversity.
Andrew Wetzler, who directs the endangered species project for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the decision was illegal and that the group would "continue to fight it in court."
Energy industry groups celebrated Friday, as did many Republicans.
"The Endangered Species Act is not the proper mechanism for controlling our nation's carbon emissions," said Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute.
Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington, the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, praised Salazar for what he called "a common-sense decision that will ensure more jobs are not lost due to excessive regulations of greenhouse gases by the government."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-polar-bear9-2009may09,0,4415244.story