The polar bear controversy is far from being over. As environmental groups are happy with forcing the U.S. government to make a decision on the polar bears’ fate, the state of Alaska prepares for a lawsuit, this time against the decision to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made the announcement on Wednesday, motivating that the decision was not based on sufficient evidence, and furthermore, she claimed that the polar bear population rapidly increased over the last few decades.

The reasons to pursue a lawsuit against the decision is in fact, as the governor said, that enlisting them as threatened will stand in the way of the state’s development (Alaska officials fear of possible restrictions on oil and gas explorations, which currently take place right in the middle of the bear habitat).

Furthermore, the assurances given by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne that he won’t allow the decision on the polar bears to become an instrument for activist groups to force the adoption of other regulations in a similar manner don’t seem to be enough for Alaska’s governor.

The matter remains controversial, as Alaska’s claims and the studies on polar bears point to two different things: according to the latest statistics, the number of polar bears dropped to an all-times-low of 12,000, which contradict the governor’s claims that their number significantly increased.

As Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne himself admitted, the sea-ice habitat of the polar bear has undoubtedly shrunk over the past decades, and computer models pointed to a continuous retreat for the next 45 years, which could lead the bears to extinction.

Despite all that, Alaska officials believe there was no valid explanation to listing the polar bear as threatened, and that the U.S. government’s decision could have serious social and economic repercussions, from increased power costs to higher fuel prices.