Much to the dismay of environmentalists, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) will not be employed by the Interior Department to protect the polar bear, whose habitat is rapidly disappearing as a result of global warming. The announcement by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Friday keeps the Obama administration in lockstep with the Bush presidency in maintaining the policy that the ESA should not be used to curb greenhouse gas emissions that are causing rising temperatures to melt away the polar ice cap, on which polar bears depend for their survival. Salazar admitted there is a problem, telling the media, “To see the polar bear’s habitat melting and an iconic species threatened is an environmental tragedy of the modern age.” But he insisted the solution resides in crafting new protections for polar bear habitats.