Marc Morano, a prominent global-warming skeptic on Capitol Hill, believes the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act is "based on what may, might, could happen in 2040." 

The Bush administration claims the Arctic habitat of the polar bear is melting due to global warming, so the bear must be listed as a threatened species. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the decision to list the animals as threatened was "forced" by science and the Endangered Species Act, which he called "inflexible."

Morano, minority communications director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, says it is the first time in the history of the Endangered Species Act for an animal in plentiful supply to be listed.

"Essentially, the polar bear's population numbers are up five times from 40 or 50 years ago. The entire listing is based on unproven computer model scenarios. Notice I didn't say 'forecast' because even the UN climate models now admit that these climate models are not predictions or forecasts; they're merely scenarios," he explains. "So they're basing it on these computer models, which top forecasting experts – one of them being Dr. Scott Armstrong from University of Pennsylvania – [have] said ... violate the basic methodology used [and] the basic principles of forecasting," Morano contends.

Because of pressure from environmental groups, Morano says, the habitat of endangered species now includes the atmosphere of the earth.

"In other words, rising CO2 theoretically equals a warmer world, theoretically equals less ice in the arctic, [and] theoretically equals harm to polar bears [and] harm to their habitat," he says, summarizing those groups' rationale. "So that means, under twisted logic and creative fiat – which the federal government is famous for – you could [someday] have ... people in Florida running a lawn mower ..., people in Texas doing an outdoor barbeque, or people in California running their heater in the winter or air conditioner facing restrictions based on their CO2 emissions because it might go too high in the atmosphere and then raise the global temperature and harm the polar bear," Morano concludes.

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