Environmental issues and economic interests were standing face to face as the U.S. Interior Department was asked to decide whether an oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska, would affect the natural habitat of polar bears. Well, the answer was simple, as the Mineral Management Service took time to analyze the situation and declare it perfectly safe. That however is rather strange, considering that the Fish and Wildlife Service delayed its decision on whether the polar bear should be declared endangered species, due to the significant ice reduction caused by global warming.

The Chukchi Sea oil exploration and the one month delay of the Fish and Wildlife Services before declaring the polar bear as an endangered species have had what one would call a ‘perfect timing’. The lease sale scheduled February 6 will under no circumstances be affected by some annoying protection laws as it appears, and the Interior Department didn’t seem to care muchabout environmental issues. After all, are the lives of a couple of polar bears as valuable as an oil business?

And how strange is that an agency that was supposed to work for, not against the animal cause, delayed a decision that should have been made by now, considering the numerous alarm signals and the entire year of studying the problem? Well, from Dale Hall’s point of view, as director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, there’s nothing unusual about the delay, as “It’s not just making the decision, it’s making it clear and why.” (Associated Press).

On the other hand, the Minerals Management Service concluded that the polar bear is protected, and the sales will take into account the Marine Mammal Protection Act. And of course, they thought about the polar bears’ welfare before they thought about the 15 billion barrels of oil and 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. After all, what would they have to gain from this?... There has to be a logical explanation for such a decision… maybe the expression “no sea ice, no polar bears” is too difficult to understand.

Scientists don’t get tired of publishing studies and reports, raising alarm signals on the effects of global warming on the Arctic sea ice and the disastrous impact on the animal life there, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services do take their time in making a decision whose explanation will probably be the most difficult part, as its director said. We can only imagine how controversial declaring the polar bear an endangered species can be…