Interior Secretory Will Keep Bush's Polar Bear Protection Rule

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today that he will retain the Bush administration's controversial rule on polar bear protections, rejecting special authority given to him by Congress and the pleas of Democratic lawmakers, environmentalists and scientists to overturn the regulation.

While keeping the rule -- which limits use of the Endangered Species Act to curb emissions of greenhouse gases -- Salazar held open the possibility of adding habitat protections for the polar bear later.

"To see the polar bear's habitat melting and an iconic species threatened is an environmental tragedy of the modern age," Salazar said. "This administration is fully committed to the protection and recovery of the polar bear..."