This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Polar bears in the Arctic are sending us the same message today that canaries sent coal miners of the past: When they die, it signals a lethal situation for humans.

The difference is that the coal miners paid attention.

More than a year ago, after two years of discussion and review, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing polar bears as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The rationale was that climate change has drastically reduced the sea ice they depend on for hunting, denning and giving birth. But then the agency did nothing and quietly let the Jan. 9 deadline for a decision pass.

That is because recognizing that the bears are endangered due to global warming would be an admission by the Bush administration that warming is real and that it already is having dire consequences. An endangered designation would also require federal agencies to limit the greenhouse gas emissions from such projects as power plants that are warming the planet and threatening the bears. Plus, if the polar bear were given federal protection, drilling for gas and oil in its habitat would have to be reviewed and possibly limited.

And the Bush administration will not allow that to happen. Instead, in the face of growing worldwide recognition and concern over global warming, the Bush Interior Department simply ignored the evidence - again. When the deadline passed, the wildlife agency said it needed more time. Now it's mid-March and still no decision.

Fortunately, three conservation groups are not willing to give the administration a pass. They have filed a lawsuit, asking a federal court to order the Interior Department to announce a decision.

What's more disturbing is that while polar bear protection was put on hold, the administration pushed through a Feb. 6 sale of 30 million acres in oil and gas leases in Arctic polar bear habitat in the Chukchi Sea, off the northwest Alaska coast.

Summer sea ice in Alaska hit its lowest level in 38 years in 2007. There is nearly 40 percent less ice now than the average between 1979 and 2000.

A U.S. Geological Survey report estimated that all polar bears in the two Alaska bear groups would be gone by 2050 if the current trend of ice melt continues. It's a signal we should heed.