Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, today made the following remarks regarding the Department of Interior's (DOI) decision to retain the current rule for protecting polar bears under the Endangered Species Act (ESA):
Senator Boxer said: "I disagree with the Department of Interior's decision to limit the tools we have available under the Endangered Species Act to save the polar bear from extinction. Monitoring the situation will not tell us more than we know now - that the polar bear is threatened and we need to act."
