Alaska News

Judge delivers 'bittersweet' polar bear ruling

In a ruling that both environmentalists and Alaska Rep. Don Young can applaud, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan threw out a key section of an Interior Department rule that declared global warming is threatening the survival of the polar bear, making regulations of greenhouse gases mandatory.

Sullivan said that Fish and Wildlife Service failed to conduct a proper environmental review when creating the protections for the polar bear. The agency must now go back and conduct an environmental assessment of the outcome of the rule, and consider other options.

In other words, according to Politico, "the Obama administration can't be forced to use endangered species law to regulate greenhouse gases . . . but it can't ignore the idea either."

Politico quotes the judge as writing the following:

In keeping with his optimistic disposition, Young all but declared victory:

A press release sent by the groups who brought the case to court -- Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace and Defenders of Wildlife -- said that today's ruling "does not limit the applicability of the ESA to greenhouse gas emissions affecting species listed as endangered under the Act or to other threatened species for which Interior has not issued a specific exemption."

It called the ruling, "bittersweet."

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Sullivan is the same judge who presided over the corruption trail of the late Sen. Ted Stevens, and who subsequently threw out his conviction.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amanda(at)alaskadispatch.com

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