The clock is suddenly ticking for the U.S. Department of the
Interior to defend its classification of the polar bear as
“threatened,” rather than the more protective “endangered”
classification. The “threatened” designation dates back to the
George W. Bush administration, but in response to a series of
lawsuits concerning the polar bear, U.S. District of Columbia
District Judge Emmet Sullivan said this week that the government
needs to review that decision, because it was not based on a
proper reading of the Endangered Species Act. In his decision,
Judge Sullivan said that the agency was wrong to conclude that a
species had to be in imminent danger of extinction in order to
qualify as an endangered species. He said that the Endangered
Species Act was ambiguous as to whether a species had to be on
the brink of extinction in order to be considered endangered. He
did not rule on the merits. [Wall Street Journal] If the bears
were moved to “endangered,” that switch could bring with it a
wave of legal wrangling ab