The Obama administration is denying polar bears endangered species status. W.H.: Polar bears not 'endangered'

The Obama administration is sticking with a George W. Bush-era decision to deny polar bears endangered species status.

In a court filing Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service defended the previous administration’s decision to give the polar bear the less-protective “threatened” species designation, a move that will frustrate environmentalists who hoped for stronger protections under the Endangered Species Act.


FWS Director Rowan Gould said the 2008 "threatened" listing was made "following careful analysis of the best scientific information, as required by the ESA."

At the time, the service determined the bears weren't danger of extinction, so did not warrant the “endangered” status. The bears were listed as "threatened" because they face serious threats from projected decline in its sea ice habitat due to global warming would result in them likely being in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future.

FWS is "confident it was and is the appropriate status," Gould said.

Listing the polar bear as “endangered” as a result of global warming could open the door to using the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gases, an outcome the Obama administration has opposed.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan sent the controversial listing decision back to the Obama administration in October, asking officials to clarify the language the agency used when it determined that polar bears aren’t “endangered” under federal law.

Environmentalists who challenged the listing in court had hoped that Obama administration officials would seize the opportunity to ditch the Bush administration’s decision and extend stronger protections to the species, but that was seen as a long shot.