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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Cat Lazaroff, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-3270

Polar Bears to Benefit From Proposal to Safeguard Critical Habitat

Proposed rule would help polar bears survive impacts of global warming, protect the Arctic Refuge

WASHINGTON

Summary: * The Interior Department today announced its proposal to designate more than 200,000 square miles of critical habitat to protect struggling polar bears in the Arctic. * The critical habitat proposal includes both Arctic sea ice and terrestrial habitat for polar bears. * The inclusion of denning habitat for polar bears in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should help safeguard this important habitat from oil and gas drilling.

The following is a statement by Rodger Schlickeisen, president for Defenders of Wildlife:

"The polar bear is on the front lines of the battle against the
mounting impacts of climate change, with its habitat melting away and
its food becoming scarce.

"The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the nation's most important
onshore polar bear nursery, and Interior's decision to include the
coastal plain in their proposed critical habitat designation validates
the region's biological importance to polar bears and other wildlife.
Today's announcement reinforces the argument that Congress should not
permit oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

"It is a testament to this administration's renewed emphasis on
sound science and transparency that the proposed critical habitat
designation does not limit the type of activities that may require
consultation under the Endangered Species Act. This stands in direct
contrast to the underhanded efforts by the previous administration to
preclude consultation on those activities that would produce greenhouse
gas pollution, further exacerbating the factors causing polar bear sea
ice habitat to melt.

"Global warming is the number one threat to polar bears today. We're
glad that the Interior Department recognized this, and chose not to
prevent the consideration of the climate impacts of activities in the
bears' proposed critical habitat."

Read the Interior Department proposal and view maps of the proposed critical habitat

Learn more about Defenders' work to safeguard polar bears and their habitat.

Defenders of Wildlife is the premier U.S.-based national conservation organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of imperiled species and their habitats in North America.

(202) 682-9400