U.S. Senate committee probes delayed polar bear decision

American sport hunters and environmentalists appeared before a U.S. Senate committee this week in their ongoing bids to sway the government on whether or not to list polar bears as a threatened species.

The Senate Environment Committee spent Wednesday examining why the U.S. government has delayed its decision on the listing, which would grant protection to polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

The original deadline for that decision wasJan. 9. Itwas extended by one month, but nothing has been announced to date.

Witnesses that appeared before the committee Wednesday included the National Wildlife Federation, the Center for Biological Diversity and a representative of the United States Sportsmen's Alliance.

The alliance and other hunters' organizations, including Safari Club International, argued that listing polar bears as threatened could lead to a ban on polar bear trophy imports, harming the American sport hunting industry in Canada's North.

"We helped defeat a bill last year in the U.S. Congress that would have banned imports of trophies from Canada," Doug Burdin, a lawyer for Safari Club International, told CBC News on Friday.

"So we've been involved in this issue for a number of years and have been working hard to stop the listing, if possible, and then to deal with any ramifications if it happens."

If the U.S. does want to list polar bears as a threatened species, Burdin said, the government could list only certain polar bear populations that it considers to be truly threatened.

Burdin said sport hunters are pushing for no listing but added that a partial ban is better than a total ban.

Conservation groups petitioned to have polar bears listed as threatened more than three years ago because their habitat, sea ice, is shrinking from global warming, many scientists say.

Listing polar bears as threatened would require U.S. federal agencies to make sure anything they do does not jeopardize the bears or the Arctic sea ice where they live.

Interior secretary slammed for hearing no-show

One notable witness was absent from Wednesday's hearing: U.S.Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who had sparked the polar bear debate last year by asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to recommend whether to grant the bear threatened status.

Committee chair Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) slammed Kempthorne for declining her invitation to appear before her panel to explain why the Bush administration has delayed its decision.

"It's wrong that Mr. Kempthorne is not here," Boxer said after the hearing, which went on without an appearance from Kempthorne or any other administration official. "I like him, but it's wrong."

Boxer said Kempthorne and other administration officials were "ducking their responsibility to the American people" by delaying a decision on the bears and then failing to appear at a hearing to explain why.

Boxer said she was especially troubled because the administration did not hesitate to open a major bear habitat to oil leases.

The Department of the Interior opened a large area of the Chukchi Sea to oil and gas leases in early February despite sharp criticism from environmentalists, who note that one-fifth of the Arctic's polar bears depend on sea ice in their hunt for food.

"There's a rush to drill, and no rush to list [polar bears as threatened],"Boxer said.

Decision expected before early summer, senator says

In a letter to Boxer, Kempthorne said he "respectfully" declined her invitation to appear at the hearing since he is a named defendant in a lawsuit over the polar bear listing filed by an environmental group.

Kempthorne, a former Idaho governor and senator, said he understands that the delay in the polar bear decision is frustrating to Boxer and others who advocate additional protections for the bear.

But, he said, the oil and gas leases opened up in February do not pose a threat to the bear, citing the "localized nature" of the proposed oil and gas developments.

If the bear is listed as threatened, any oil and gas exploration would be subject to the Endangered Species Act, regardless of when the leases are sold, Kempthorne said.

"Careful deliberation will not imperil the survival of the polar bear," he said.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said he spoke with Kempthorne this week and thatKempthorne expects a decision on polar bears "before early summer."

The interior department's inspector general, responding to conservation groups, said last month it is investigating why the department had not made its listing decision.