According to a Wednesday statement of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the state will file suit against the listing of polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. She added that U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne’s decision was made last week without sufficient evidence.

Kempthorne depicted greater steps to monitor polar bear populations in Alaska and outlying islands in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, where the US government sold new leases for energy exploration.

Hunting of polar bears is already restricted under US law after their numbers fell as low as 12,000 in the 1960s. Kempthorne explained ice melting posed the greatest danger now, not energy production or indigenous peoples. He also said the iconic bears’ population is “likely to become in danger of extinction in the foreseeable future” without preventive action.

Palin’s opinion on the subject is completely different, as she says that polar bears have been and still are well managed and a significant population increase can be noticed over the past 30 years.

However, as found in The Los Angeles Times, it seems that if the planet continues warming at the same pace, during the next 40 years we could face the extinction of around two thirds of the polar bear population.

Now that the species was listed, the government must protect the bears that live in Alaska, which is the only American territory where the species exists.