Polar Bear Protection Delayed. Oil Drilling Okayed. Click to Protest

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Bad news: the Bush Administration has delayed its long-awaited decision about whether or not to protect the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. The deadline for a decision was January 9th. In the meantime, the administration has given the go-ahead for the sale of oil and gas leases in prime polar bear habitat - the Chukchi Sea off of Alaska - on February 6th. Please click to tell your Representative to support the Markey bill (H.R. 5058). It puts polar bears first - by reversing the go-ahead for the oil and gas lease sales until the Bush Administration makes its final decision about protecting polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. It takes less than a minute to add your name to this urgent message - and it could save Alaska's polar bears from the potential catastrophe of an oil spill in their critical habitat. Why did the Bush Administration delay its decision to protect polar bears? Because once that protection is in place, the government will NOT be allowed to proceed with any new oil and gas development without first considering the impacts on the bear under the Endangered Species Act. Simply put, the administration and Big Oil are trying to sneak through the Chukchi drilling before the bear is safeguarded. Alaska's polar bears are already in grave danger from global warming that is melting their sea ice habitat - and could be extinct in less than 50 years - unless the government takes swift action to save them. Right now, NRDC and the Center for Biological Diversity are dragging the Bush Administration back to court to force it to make a final decision on polar bear protection. In the meantime, they need our help to block the drilling of the polar bear's habitat -- which could start as early as February! So please, add your online signature here to call on your Representative to add his or her signature to this critical bill. http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/Put_Polar_Bears_First