Facing a possible court battle over its lack of action on global warming, the Bush administration has agreed to declare the polar bear an endangered species. The move comes after environmental groups threatened to sue the White House for failing to protect the bears. The bears’ Arctic habitat has seen declining ice coverage by the year — a decline environmentalists blame on global warming. Despite acknowledging the conditions in the bears’ habitats, the White House indicated no plans to curb Alaska oil drilling or impose new limits on emissions of greenhouse gas.

Greenpeace Research Director Kert Davies: “It’s in law now. They have to account for the voice of the bear and the impact on the polar bear of any actions that are taken. So they have to account for increases in global warming pollution that might be caused by a federal project or by an energy development project. We don’t know how they’re going to handle this yet, but by law, they should have to account for the inevitable impact of global warming, to global warming, of anything that the government does.”