Well, not really. . . but it was a fun headline!!!

The news this week in the ongoing battle between the US and those pesky Polar bears has taken an interesting turn.  The US Department of the Interior has announced that it will soon sell oil and gas leases on nearly 30 million acres of polar bear habitat in the Chukchi sea, while at the same time the Department of Fish and Wildlife announced its decision to postpone a ruling on whether to add Polar bears to the list of threatened species.  Of course I’m a bit jaded, but these two announcements coming together as they did does look a bit, dare I say. . . fishy!?

This is a case where “who goes first”, does actually matter and it looks like the chess game is afoot.  By getting the leases sold before the announcement on the Polar bears, you put the environmental groups on weaker ground.  Legal wrangling can go on for years, but in the mean time the oil companies most likely can move ahead with their plans.  It would be hard to turn back once they get going.  If on the other hand the ruling on the bears came first, then the Department of the Interior would have to re-examine its policies and the ensuing legal battles would work in favor of conservation.  It’s all a matter of who goes first.  That of course assumes that the Polar bear is actually determined to be “threatened”.  The  Department of the Interior says they have enough protection in place to  make  oil  drilling in the region safe regardless.

The problem for most of us common folk is that we don’t know who is right.  Opinion and “feel” are not the same as facts. We have to trust the powers that be to get the facts, then make good decisions. Sadly it’s pretty tough to trust those guys. . .  But it does seem logical to let the researchers do their work before we start divvying up the land.

It’s -11 F Here in Wisconsin today.  Maybe the bears would like to come live here. . .

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