Polar bear listing decision probed

The Interior Department’s inspector general has begun a preliminary investigation into why the department has delayed for nearly two months a decision on listing the polar bear as threatened because of the loss of Arctic sea ice.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- a bureau of the department -- was to have made a recommendation on the matter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in early January.

But when the deadline came, the agency said it needed another month, a timetable that also was not met.

A spokesman for the department’s inspector general’s office said a case had been opened in response to a letter from several environmental groups.

He said the preliminary inquiry would determine whether a full-fledged investigation was warranted.

Scientists have said the polar bear is under a growing threat because of the significant loss of Arctic sea ice due to global warming.

The Interior Department in early 2007 proposed listing the bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, triggering a year of scientific review.

By law a recommendation was to have been made by the Fish and Wildlife Service by Jan. 9, a year after the initial action.

The letter to Inspector Gen. Earl E. Devaney, which was signed by six environmental groups, alleges that Fish and Wildlife Director H. Dale Hall violated the agency’s scientific code of conduct and the Endangered Species Act by delaying the decision.

All the scientific data on the issue had been developed and sent to Washington before Christmas.