The world’s polar bear population, it is reported, is at its peak, has more than doubled over the past 40 years and has handled itself well in temperatures higher than today’s. The main thing suggesting possible peril decades from now are computer models about as reliable as my big toe is in predicting whether it is going to rain tomorrow.

On this basis, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has pronounced that polar bears are threatened as defined by the Endangered Species Act, and several environmental groups are openly plotting to use the ruling to stymie fossil-fuel energy consumption. One consequence, an analyst contends, could be to deprive the country of its best chance to grow less dependent on Mideast exports and better control pump prices.