It doesn't mean much to be listed as an Endangered Species these days. Not if you happen to be between an oil company and its oil. It seems the Fish & Wildlife Service has decided that a little intimidation and harassment won't further complicate the dire situation that our polar bears find themselves in.
As diaried here in January by TheGreenMiles, the timing was expectedly suspicious from BushCo - rather than worry about the bears, the oil deals were pushed through before the bears' protected status was granted, over the muffled cries of an eight nation report that was suppressed. Lipo and oregonj both noted in May that the bears' protected status did not mean that companies would have to take action to preserve their icy environment.
The crushing shortsightedness of comments from F&WS agents like this gives some idea of what we're up against:
"The oil and gas industry in operating under the kind of rules they have operated under for 15 years has not been a threat to the species," H. Dale Hall, the Fish and Wildlife Service's director, told The Associated Press on Friday. "It was the ice melting and the habitat going away that was a threat to the species over everything else."
Of course, there are plans to make it all go swimmingly (pun intended):
The seven companies will be required to map the locations of polar bear dens, train employees about the bears’ habits, and take other measures to minimize clashes. In exchange, the companies are legally protected if their operations unintentionally harm the bears. Any bear deaths would still warrant an investigation and could result in penalty.
Oddly, the F&WS press release of June 10 is written in a calming bureaucratese that makes me think they all really, really care. "Negligible effect..." "Same regulations they've always been using..." Ahhh. Hey, wait a minute. Am I the only one who finds it odd that the director of the F&WS likes fishing and hunting?