asking Al Gore to run in 2008!
Bush eviscerates Endagered Species Act, says our kids can eat oil
Posted August 13th, 2008 by Wayne in WA State
By DINA CAPPIELLO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON – Parts of the Endangered Species Act may soon be extinct.
The Bush administration wants federal agencies to decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants. New regulations, which don't require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews government scientists have been performing for 35 years, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.
Environmentalists said the administration's move appears to fly in the face of a decision by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour of Seattle in a case there in 2004.
In that case, the Seattle-based Washington Toxics Coalition joined Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity and others challenging a Bush administration rule allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to approve pesticides without asking the opinion of government scientists.
Coughenour rejected the administration's contention that it was too time-consuming to figure out how hundreds of pesticides might affect more than 1,200 imperiled species.
But, "this proposed regulation looks very similar to the one that was struck down for EPA – except it's for all federal agencies, not just EPA," said Kristen Boyles of the Seattle office of Earthjustice, which represented the environmental groups in the Seattle suit.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Monday the changes were needed to ensure that the Endangered Species Act would not be used as a "back door" to regulate the gases blamed for global warming. In May, the polar bear became the first species declared as threatened because of climate change.
The rules would bar federal agencies from assessing the emissions from projects that contribute to global warming and its effect on species and habitats.
more..
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/374...dangered12.html
- Wayne in WA State's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Be part of the Draft Gore '08 campaign!
Lame Duck Can Do a Lot of Damage
I look to the lame duck to set a lot of policies and directives that will seriously damage our enviornment and set up nicely the big energy, pharma, insurance companies and other buddies of the cons as his administration draws to a close. These won't get much notice now, but as President Obama is forced to roll out a steady stream of corrective actions, his "dismantling" of all of Dubya's good deeds and policies will be milked for all it's worth in the four-year savaging of Obama's administration that we're going to get from the right.