more polar bears and politics

Not sure when he wrote it, but the AP's Dan Joling has this well-researched story on the polar bear listing on the Juneau Empire's Web site now.
Here's an excerpt.

The Fish and Wildlife Service in December determined that listing polar bears as threatened - in danger of extinction in a significant portion of its range - was warranted, pending further review and public testimony. Palin, elected in November, claims the agency did not use the best scientific and commercial information available.

The official state testimony claims sea ice is melting, but the Fish and Wildlife Service picked out the most extreme climate models to predict future effects. State officials say scientists disagree over human's role in warming, a more comprehensive evaluation is needed and that polar bears can adapt to less ice.

"The application for this listing is based on the unfounded, unproven scientific hypotheses that climate change is caused by human activity, in the form of increased release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," said House Speaker John Harris, a Valdez Republican.

That's a view in contrast to world climate experts who made up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They reported in February that global warming "very likely" is caused by human use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.