(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants more time to decide whether polar bears should be listed as threatened or endangered species, but environmental activists strongly object.

The USFWS was supposed to make a recommendation on January 9, 2008, but the deadline has come and gone -- and this week, the agency asked for more time -- until June 30, 2008.

A federal court in California has scheduled a May 8 hearing on the request.

Environmental activists say the Bush administration is deliberately dragging its feet on the polar bear decision. Conservatives say environmentalists are using polar bears to force curbs in greenhouse gas emissions -- and using the courts to make an end-run around Congress.

"Polar bears need our help now, not whenever the Bush administration feels like getting around to it," said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the 2005 petition to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.

"The administration will do nothing to protect polar bears and nothing about global warming until ordered to do so by a federal judge. That's why we've moved this case as quickly as could possibly be done under the rules of court."

"The Endangered Species Act is absolutely unambiguous: the Fish and Wildlife Service was required to make a final decision months ago. The scientific evidence is as overwhelming and undeniable -- polar bears are an endangered species that ought to be protected by the Endangered Species Act," said Andrew Wetzler, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Endangered Species Project.

"If the government truly were serious about protecting the polar bear, then the Fish and Wildlife Service would list it immediately under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and protect its Arctic habitat from further oil development," said Melanie Duchin, global warming campaigner at Greenpeace USA.

Listing polar bears under the Endangered Species Act would force the federal government to protect their habitat -- the polar ice caps, which some say are melting at an alarming rate. Environmentalists blame global warming.

So, if global warming is threatening polar bears, the U.S. government would be forced to cut greenhouse gas emissions and curb oil drilling in the Arctic region at time of growing oil demand and record oil prices.

Earlier this week, President Bush referred to the "growing problem" of activists using the courts as a back-door way to impose their agenda on the nation.

"Some courts are taking laws written more than 30 years ago...and applying them to global climate change. The Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act were never meant to regulate global climate," Bush said in a
speech outlining his position on climate change legislation. He called it the wrong approach.

The Bush administration says climate change policies must not slow the economy, cut jobs, or cause hardship for the American people.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says for the past year, it has been gathering and analyzing information and "assess[ing] the reliability of relevant scientific models" before making a final decision whether to list the polar bear as an endangered species.

"The Service is committed to using all relevant and accurate scientific data available in order to arrive at an informed and scientifically supported decision," it said.

Meanwhile, the Senate has gotten into the act, summoning Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to appear before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on April 2 as part of an oversight hearing on the delay in listing the polar bear.

But Kempthorne did not appear. He sent a letter to committee chair Sen. Barbara Boxer saying he would appear once a final determination on the polar bear has been made.

"It is important to recognize that there are occasionally tensions between the ESA's time deadlines and the ability of the (Interior) Department to render a thorough and defensible decision," Kempthorne wrote.

See Earlier Stories:
Interior Secretary No-Show at Polar Bear Hearing (April 3, 2008)
Senate Keeps Focus on Polar Bear (March 24, 2008)
Polar Bear Habitat Receives Record Number of Bids (Feb. 6, 2008)
Bill Delays Oil Exploration for Polar Bear Listing (Jan. 21, 2008)
Group Using Polar Bear to Force Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Feb. 17, 2005)