Obama Shows No Love to the Polar Bears

Once again something unpopular with the left that Bush did is being upheld by the Obama Administration:

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Friday let stand a Bush-era regulation that limits protection of the polar bear from global warming, saying that a law protecting endangered species shouldn't be used to take on the much broader issue of climate change.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said that he will not rescind the Bush rule, although Congress gave him authority to do so. The bear was declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act a little over a year ago, because global warming is harming its habitat.

Salazar said rescinding the Bush rule "would provide no more protection for the polar bear and result in uncertainty and confusion about the management of the species."

The iconic polar bear was declared a threatened species because global warming is causing a severe decline in Arctic sea ice. But the Bush administration rules limit that protection, saying no action outside the Arctic region could be considered a threat to the bear under the law.

Environmentalists have strongly opposed the rule as have many members of Congress. They argued the limits violate the Endangered Species Act because the release of greenhouse gases from power plants, factories and cars indirectly threaten the bear's survival.

But Salazar said the answer to dealing with global warming rests in a broader, comprehensive approach that limits greenhouse gases.

"The Endangered Species Act is not the appropriate tool for us to deal with what is a global issue, and that is the issue of global warming," said Salazar in a conference call with reporters.

The environwackos were just waiting for the opportunity to start shutting down America in the name of saving polar bears. Listing them as "threatened" was one of the dumber things that the Bush people did, especially since it has been shown that most populations of polar bears are increasing. We're not going to run out of polar bears.