The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, expected to announce on Wednesday its decision about whether to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, has announced instead that it will miss that deadline. The agency said it hopes to make a recommendation to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne within the next month, after continued analysis of scientific data and public comment. The fact that the Interior Department is having a sale of drilling rights in polar-bear habitat in early February is probably merely coincidence.
