More about Sarah Palin's polar bear fiasco

According to the Washington Post, Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin is suing the Federal Government. Palin joined four companies who want to reverse the listing of polar bears as being endangered. They claim that the polar bear species as a whole are stable and that melting sea ice does not threaten their lives. The companies involved are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Iron and Steel Institute, American Petroleum Institute and the National Mining Association.

The lawsuit was filed August 4, 2008-the government has 60 days to respond.

They object to what they call the "Alaska Gap" in relation to the special rule the federal government issued in May in conjunction with the polar bear's protected status. The rule, meant to prevent the polar bear's status from being used as a tool for imposing greenhouse gas limits, exempts projects in all states except Alaska from undergoing review in relation to emissions.

Read more here...

Sarah Palin's confusing view on polar bears.

I was reading an article on something related to animals, but not specifically polar bears. Something about feral cats not being responsible for the decline of birds. Which, by the way, humans are responsible for the decline of birds due to urban sprawl, pollution and global warming.

So, I was reading an article and found my way to another article written by Sarah Palin from January 5, 2008. I don't know how she came upon these opinions of hers. It seems to me that the polar bears are in definite danger and she just wants to keep her pocketbook full of money from the oil industry. She wants to drill in the Artic Refuge, where polar bears live. Isn't it common knowledge that the polar bears are in trouble?

Below is a confusing quote from her OpEd in the New York Times.

They are worthy of our utmost efforts to protect them and their Arctic habitat. But adding polar bears to the nation’s list of endangered species, as some are now proposing, should not be part of those efforts.

Another quote from Palin:

The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, has argued that global warming and the reduction of polar ice severely threatens the bears’ habitat and their existence. In fact, there is insufficient evidence that polar bears are in danger of becoming extinct within the foreseeable future — the trigger for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

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Here is a quote from the U.S. Geological Survey that seems to contradict what Sarah Palin claims is "insufficient evidence".

“There were some years when some bears may have had to swim as far as 100 miles,” Steven C. Amstrup, the senior polar bear scientist with the United States Geological Survey in Anchorage [Alaska, where Sarah Palin lives], wrote in an e-mail message. “Now the ice is much farther offshore, more consistently and for longer. So the possibility of long distances between land and sea ice is much greater.”

Read more about the polar bears

A study in Canada that contradicts her theory of "insufficient evidence":

In Canada’s Hudson Bay, a long-term study confirms polar bears are losing weight and bearing fewer cubs as global warming melts away their icy habitat. Click here to read the study.

Yet, another study that contradicts her statement, done in her own state!

The Alaska Conservation Solutions (Palin's home state) found that annual temperatures have increased 3–5 °F and winter temperatures have soared 7–10 °F. During the last four decades, Alaska has heated more than anywhere in the country.

So, I ask, how in the world can she say there is "insufficient evidence"? She lives in Alaska! She must be aware of these temperature changes but is not willing to admit to them.

I think she is choosing monetary gain over the lives of polar bears and other arctic life. We definitely don't want her in office.

What do you think?