Speculative Endangerment

Sigh:

The Bush administration on Wednesday declared the polar bear a threatened species, saying it must be protected because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming. But activists were quick to criticize the ruling, saying it was full of loopholes.

Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited dramatic declines in sea ice over the last three decades and projections of continued losses. These declines, he told a news conference, mean the polar bear is a species likely to be in danger of extinction in the near future.

So let me get this straight: Of thirteen artic polar bear populations, eleven are stable and growing BUT the Interior Department will nonetheless declare them to be "threatened" because of the speculative effects of changes in their habitat.  But even such nonsense is not enough for some people:

The Sierra Club was among the first conservation groups to criticize the approach, with Executive Director Carl Pope saying it was "riddled with loopholes, caveats, and backhanded language that could actually undermine protections for the polar bear and other species."

"The administration's attempts to reduce protection to the polar bear from greenhouse gas emissions are illegal and won't hold up in court," added Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, and lead author of the 2005 petition that first triggered the Interior Department to study a listing.

"Reduce"?