America’s northernmost state is threatening legal action in an effort to prevent federal protection of the polar bear.  Alaskan officials say there is not enough evidence that polar bears are threatened.  They also say the federal listing would harm economic activities and development in the state.

Last month, the federal government identified polar bears as threatened under a wildlife law -- the Endangered Species Act.  The polar bear is the first animal to gain such protection because of climate change. 

Polar bears live along the northern and northwestern coast of Alaska, in the Arctic Ocean.  Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the animals are being protected partly because a large amount of Arctic ice has melted.  The polar bear needs this ice to survive.  The interior secretary also said computer studies show that the melting will continue into the future.

But Alaskan officials said such studies are undependable.

A United States Geological Survey study last year estimated that polar bears could disappear from Earth by twenty fifty.  About twenty thousand to twenty five thousand polar bears live in the Arctic.  But most are in Canadian territory. 

Environmental activists had hoped that identifying the animal as threatened would result in carbon dioxide restrictions.  But Mister Kempthorne said the government would not use the Endangered Species Act to limit gases from vehicles, power stations and other factories.  He said a direct link could not be established between release of the gases and threat to polar bears. 

In declaring protection for the bears, the interior secretary also announced a special rule.  The rule will let exploration and drilling of oil continue in the Arctic.  Mister Kempthorne said these activities do not harm polar bears.