Save the polar bears
TEXT OF STORY
SCOTT JAGOW: Global warming affects us all, but right now, is anybody getting it worse than the polar bears? Their habitat is melting. Yesterday, the Bush administration tossed out the idea of putting polar bears on the endangered species list. More now from Sam Eaton at the Marketplace Sustainability Desk.
SAM EATON: Coca-Cola’s TV commercials may have turned polar bears into pop-culture icons, but environmental groups say an endangered species listing will go much further toward saving the bears.
Natural Resources Defense Council’s Andrew Wetzler says under the endangered species act even government actions in the lower 48 will have to take into account the bears’ wellbeing.
ANDREW WETZLER: So for the first time you will have endangered species act implications for things like licensing power plants.
Specifically, Wetzler says, government reviews of the dozens of conventional coal-fired power plants now in the planning stages.
Since polar bears depend on sea ice for hunting, he says any policies that contribute to global warming could now face legal challenges under the act.
In Los Angeles, I’m Sam Eaton for Marketplace.
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