ANCHORAGE, Alaska – It's been more than three years since a California conservation group asked the federal government to protect polar bear habitat threatened by global warming.

The Center for Biological Diversity and other groups pushing for federal action to climate change could get an answer in about two weeks.

U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland, Calif., late Monday ordered the Bush administration to decide by May 15 whether polar bears should be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The decision was due Jan. 9 and Wilken rejected a government request for further delay until June 30.

“Defendants have been in violation of the law requiring them to publish the listing determination for nearly 120 days,” Wilken wrote in a decision released late Monday. “Other than the general complexity of finalizing the rule, Defendants offer no specific facts that would justify the delay, much less further delay.”

A spokesman for the Interior Department said Tuesday the decision was being reviewed.

“We will evaluate the legal options and will decide the appropriate course of action,” said Shane Wolfe in an e-mail statement.

Conservation groups hailed the decision, made more than a week ahead of a scheduled court hearing.

Click here to read the complete story.