Q&A With Senator Boxer

Below are excerpts from the Q&A session between Armstrong and Senator Boxer. Full Text of Examining Threats and Protections For the Polar Bear.

Senator Boxer. Now, Dr. Scott, you are a Ph.D. in what? Dr. Armstrong.

Mr. Armstrong. I went to MIT, so I basically had three areas, one was economics, the other was social psychology and the other was marketing.

Senator Boxer. Economics, social psychology and marketing. Are you a biologist?

Mr. Armstrong. No.

Senator Boxer. Are you a polar bear expert?

Mr. Armstrong. No.

Senator Boxer. Are you an expert in wildlife of any sort?

Mr. Armstrong. No.

Senator Boxer. Are you an ecologist?

Mr. Armstrong. Pardon me?

Senator Boxer. Are you a climatologist?

Mr. Armstrong. No, I am not.

Senator Boxer. So you are bringing your marketing experience here.

Mr. Armstrong. No, I am bringing my forecasting methods experience.

Senator Boxer. But you are not, I just want to say for the record, an expert on the polar bear, you have never studied the polar bear, you have never gone out to see what is going on. Have you read the USGS report that talks about the polar bear?

Mr. Armstrong. That is what we analyzed. But I think that is an advantage for me __

Senator Boxer. Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. I am not asking what you analyzed. I am asking you if you read the USGS report on the polar bear __

Mr. Armstrong. Well, we read __

Senator Boxer. __ before you made your statement that there is a high degree of uncertainty? Did you read the USGS report that says that two thirds of the world’s current polar bear population will be gone by mid century if the ice continues to be lost at the rate it is now?

Mr. Armstrong. That is what we did our audit on. That was what I reported on.

Mr. Armstrong. I did. It is all marked up here.

Senator Boxer. You did. Okay, very good. So I would like to ask Dr. Kelly and the other members of the panel, Mr. Wetzler and Ms. Williams do you feel that there is a high degree of uncertainty or instability about the information you are looking at on what is happening with the polar bears? I will start with Dr. Kelly.