Sen. Boxer: Bush's Ties to Oil Interests Undermining Efforts to Protect Polar Bears. By Zachary Coile, SFChronicle, April 3, 2008. "California Sen. Barbara Boxer accused the Bush administration Wednesday of delaying a decision on whether to list the polar bear as an endangered species so it could finish its oil lease sales in Alaska's Chukchi Sea, where one-fifth of the world's polar bears live. 'The administration went ahead and accepted bids, even though oil and gas activities may disturb polar bears making a den, and even though an oil spill could pose big risks to the polar bear population,' said Boxer, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee... Boxer called Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to testify at a hearing on the polar bear listing decision, but he notified her Tuesday that he would not appear as a witness. In a letter released Wednesday, Kempthorne said he could not testify because his agency is in litigation with environmental groups over the polar bear decision. Kempthorne, a former Idaho Republican senator who once served on the committee, pledged to come back to discuss the decision after it is announced. Boxer noted that Cabinet secretaries often testify before Congress while their agencies are in litigation. She called Kempthorne's absence 'a slap at this committee and a slap at the American people who care about this.'"
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