Judge orders US government to make polar bear threatened species listing decision by May 15

A federal court judge has ordered the government to decide within 16 days whether polar bears should be listed as a threatened species because of global warming.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland, California, agrees with conservation groups that the Department of the Interior missed a January 9 deadline for a listing decision.

She rejected a government request for further delay until June 30.

Wilken says in her ruling that the government has been in violation of the law requiring the listing decision for nearly 120 days.

Wilken says in the ruling released lated Monday that the government offered no specific facts that would justify the delay other than the general complexity of finalizing a rule.