Environmental groups have threatened to file a lawsuit in Washington if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not make a decision on polar bears.
The service is still discussing whether the polar bears should be added to the threatened list under the Endangered Species Act, the Anchorage Daily News reported Monday.
A decision was scheduled to be released this week, but new research has delayed the sending of the agency's recommendation to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, said Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Valerie Fellows.
"We expect to provide a final recommendation to the secretary of the interior and finalize the decision within the next month," she said in a statement.
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace plan to file a suit Wednesday to speed up the process.
