Polar Bear Harassing Okayed by Bush Administration

It's okay with me, too:

WASHINGTON - Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas.

The Fish and Wildlife Service issued regulations this week providing legal protection to seven oil companies planning to search for oil and gas in the Chukchi Sea off the northwestern coast of Alaska if "small numbers" of polar bears or Pacific walruses are incidentally harmed by their activities over the next five years.

Environmentalists said the new regulations give oil companies a blank check to harass the polar bear.

Nice piece of objective journalism from the AP.

In exchange for occasional harassment the Bush Administration has agreed to let the polar bears eat one native Alaskan oil worker each month. It's only fair.