Star Witness to Skip Polar Bear Hearing

As many as two-thirds of the world's polar bears may disappear within the next 50 years, as Arctic sea ice melts due to global warming.

Photo: Ansgar Walk / Wikimedia Commons

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Sen. Barbara Boxer will convene a hearing tomorrow to get to the bottom of the Bush Administration's delay in deciding whether or not to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

The problem is, the star witness won't testify or even attend the hearing.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne declined the invitation to testify before the Fish and Wildlife Service has made its decision, overdue since January, public. Until then, he would agreed only to questions in private sessions with lawmakers, a condition which Boxer refused.

Critics believe there may be more to the delay than the Bush Administration's reluctance to deal aggressively with a global warming-related issue. In this case, oil and gas exploration and development in the Arctic could be seriously hamstrung by the listing of the polar bear as endangered, because its habitat would need protection under the law.

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