Bush destroys Endangered Species Act

[Darth Wong]

Bush could weaken Endangered Species Act

WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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 first obtained by The Associated Press.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said late 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. Warming temperatures are expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival.

The draft rules would bar federal agencies from assessing the emissions from projects that contribute to global warming and its effect on species and habitats.

"We need to focus our efforts where they will do the most good," Kempthorne said in a news conference organized quickly after AP reported details of the proposal. "It is important to use our time and resources to protect the most vulnerable species. It is not possible to draw a link between greenhouse gas emissions and distant observations of impacts on species."

If approved, the changes would represent the biggest overhaul of the Endangered Species Act since 1986. They would accomplish through regulations what conservative Republicans have been unable to achieve in Congress: ending some environmental reviews that developers and other federal agencies blame for delays and cost increases on many projects.

The changes would apply to any project a federal agency would fund, build or authorize that might harm endangered wildlife and their habitat. Government wildlife experts currently perform tens of thousands of such reviews each year.

"If adopted, these changes would seriously weaken the safety net of habitat protections that we have relied upon to protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for the past 35 years," said John Kostyack, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming initiative.

Under current law, federal agencies must consult with experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service to determine whether a project is likely to jeopardize any endangered species or to damage habitat, even if no harm seems likely. This initial review usually results in accommodations that better protect the 1,353 animals and plants in the United States listed as threatened or endangered and determines whether a more formal analysis is warranted.

The Interior Department said such consultations are no longer necessary because federal agencies have developed expertise to review their own construction and development projects, according to the 30-page draft obtained by the AP.

"We believe federal action agencies will err on the side of caution in making these determinations," the proposal said.

The director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, H. Dale Hall, said the changes would help focus expertise on "where we know we don't have a negative effect on the species but where the agency is vulnerable if we don't complete a consultation."

Responding to questions about the process, Hall said, "We will not do anything that leaves the public out of this process."

The new rules were expected to be formally proposed immediately, officials said. They would be subject to a 60-day public comment period before being finalized by the Interior Department, giving the administration enough time to impose them before November's presidential election. A new administration could freeze any pending regulations or reverse them, a process that could take months. Congress could also overturn the rules through legislation, but that could take even longer.

The proposal was drafted largely by attorneys in the general counsel's offices of the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Interior Department, according to an official with the National Marine Fisheries Service, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan hadn't yet been circulated publicly. The two agencies' experts were not consulted until last week, the official said.

Between 1998 and 2002, the Fish and Wildlife Service conducted 300,000 consultations. The National Marine Fisheries Service, which evaluates projects affecting marine species, conducts about 1,300 reviews each year.

The reviews have helped safeguard protected species such as bald eagles, Florida panthers and whooping cranes. A federal government handbook from 1998 described the consultations as "some of the most valuable and powerful tools to conserve listed species."

In recent years, however, some federal agencies and private developers have complained that the process results in delays and increased construction costs.

"We have always had concerns with respect to the need for streamlining and making it a more efficient process," said Joe Nelson, a lawyer for the National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition, a trade group for home builders and the paper and farming industry.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, called the proposed changes illegal.

"This proposed regulation is another in a continuing stream of proposals to repeal our landmark environmental laws through the back door," she said. "If this proposed regulation had been in place, it would have undermined our ability to protect the bald eagle, the grizzly bear and the gray whale."

The Bush administration and Congress have attempted with mixed success to change the law.

In 2003, the administration imposed similar rules that would have allowed agencies to approve new pesticides and projects to reduce wildfire risks without asking the opinion of government scientists about whether threatened or endangered species and habitats might be affected. The pesticide rule was later overturned in court. The Interior Department, along with the Forest Service, is currently being sued over the rule governing wildfire prevention.

In 2005, the House passed a bill that would have made similar changes to the Endangered Species Act, but the bill died in the Senate.

The sponsor of that bill, then-House Resources chairman Richard Pombo, R-California, told the AP Monday that allowing agencies to judge for themselves the effects of a project will not harm species or habitat.

"There is no way they can rubber stamp everything because they will end up in court for every decision," he said.

But internal reviews by the National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that about half the unilateral evaluations by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management that determined wildfire prevention projects were unlikely to harm protected species were not legally or scientifically valid.

Those had been permitted under the 2003 rule changes.

"This is the fox guarding the hen house. The interests of agencies will outweigh species protection interests," said Eric Glitzenstein, the attorney representing environmental groups in the lawsuit over the wildfire prevention regulations. "What they are talking about doing is eviscerating the Endangered Species Act."

Yes, it's one last "fuck the environment" hurrah for President Bush!

[Chardok]

Excellent. I don't like salmon anyway. (By don't like I mean love) Also, who needs Eagles...or condors, beavers, or trout, or buffalo? It's not like any of the above are part of our national identity or anything. I can't wait until we start using CFC propellants again. AquaNet just hasn't been the same since they were outlawed.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said late 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. Warming temperatures are expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival.

Because heaven forbid we regulate emissions that will cause untold environmental and economic damage to the entire fucking planet.

"We need to focus our efforts where they will do the most good," Kempthorne said in a news conference organized quickly after AP reported details of the proposal. "It is important to use our time and resources to protect the most vulnerable species. It is not possible to draw a link between greenhouse gas emissions and distant observations of impacts on species."

Wait what?! What the fuck is wrong with you people? Organisms exist within a certain environment. Greenhouse gases change those environments, by doing things like melt sea ice, shift rainfall patterns, etc. It is very possible to draw those links. It is very very easy

The Interior Department said such consultations are no longer necessary because federal agencies have developed expertise to review their own construction and development projects, according to the 30-page draft obtained by the AP.

No, you have developed an expertise since your inception at slashing, burning, and hunting animals to extinction.

[SpacedTeddyBear]

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 first obtained by The Associated Press.

Don't you just hate it when scientists get in the way of any kind of social, and technological development?

Wait what?! What the fuck is wrong with you people? Organisms exist within a certain environment. Greenhouse gases change those environments, by doing things like melt sea ice, shift rainfall patterns, etc. It is very possible to draw those links. It is very very easy

A lot of things is wrong with these people. The number is simply so vast and reoccurring, that we can no longer keep track of each individual stupidity wrought by this administration. So when crap like this comes up again, we don't know whether we're surprised at the new level of stupidity, or surprised that this issue came back again.... maybe its both.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Well, that'll be implemented just in time to be changed by Obama, with luck.. But no doubt multiple government projects will be approved in the meantime under the briefly implemented new rules. There will probably be a rush to clear as many projects as possible within a short period of time, resulting in what's basically a holiday from doing environmental impact statements for government agencies.

[Frank Hipper]

Yes, it's one last "fuck the environment" hurrah for President Bush!

Last?

I think you misunderestimate him.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Environment schmironment. We all live in cities nowadays anyway. You don't need that green, outdoors shit and random creatures to make humanity work. Concrete is far nicer anyway. And more profitable with a Starbucks on it.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Maybe we'll get a couple hydroelectric dams on salmon-spawning rivers out of this. Without fish-ladders!

[MichaelFerrariF1]

Environment schmironment. We all live in cities nowadays anyway. You don't need that green, outdoors shit and random creatures to make humanity work. Concrete is far nicer anyway.

The Emperor still needs to build Coruscant before he leaves.

[Big Orange]

This is just cartoonishly evil. Grotesque waste, anti-social behaviour and mismanagement on a titanic level seems to be the sole aim of Bush Administration.

[J]

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said late 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. Warming temperatures are expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival.

Because heaven forbid we regulate emissions that will cause untold environmental and economic damage to the entire fucking planet.

I guess you haven't heard the news yet: global warming is an unproven myth, it all has to do with sunspot cycles and cosmic rays and humans have absolutely no influence on the environment. The IPCC is not to be trusted because they have an agenda, as do all scientists working for universities and governments; they want to destroy America.

[SirNitram]

This is just cartoonishly evil. Grotesque waste, anti-social behaviour and mismanagement on a titanic level seems to be the sole aim of Bush Administration.

I'd say it's more the great goal of conservatism: Find as many ways to fill your bank accounts from the public coffers, and get away with it.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said late 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. Warming temperatures are expected to melt the sea ice the bear depends on for survival.

Because heaven forbid we regulate emissions that will cause untold environmental and economic damage to the entire fucking planet.

I guess you haven't heard the news yet: global warming is an unproven myth, it all has to do with sunspot cycles and cosmic rays and humans have absolutely no influence on the environment. The IPCC is not to be trusted because they have an agenda, as do all scientists working for universities and governments; they want to destroy America.

Oh yes, we university affiliated scientists all want to shit on the flag, fuck your apple pie, and corrupt your youth into the evils of homosexuality, atheism, acceptance of people from different walks of life, and long term economic and environmental planning.

[Chardok]

Because heaven forbid we regulate emissions that will cause untold environmental and economic damage to the entire fucking planet.

I guess you haven't heard the news yet: global warming is an unproven myth, it all has to do with sunspot cycles and cosmic rays and humans have absolutely no influence on the environment. The IPCC is not to be trusted because they have an agenda, as do all scientists working for universities and governments; they want to destroy America.

Oh yes, we university affiliated scientists all want to shit on the flag, fuck your apple pie, and corrupt your youth into the evils of homosexuality, atheism, acceptance of people from different walks of life, and long term economic and environmental planning.

That, sir, is probably the most succint; nay; profound summary of conservative philasophy I've ever seen. You win. That's all, you just win.

[Patrick Degan]

Oh yes, we university affiliated scientists all want to shit on the flag, fuck your apple pie, and corrupt your youth into the evils of homosexuality, atheism, acceptance of people from different walks of life, and long term economic and environmental planning.

F.U.Q. nomination.

[Chardok]

Ghetto edit - Can someone fix my philosophy typo? That's annoying the shit out of me.

[Dooey Jo]

But guys, Penn & Teller said that the Endangered Species Act was bad! All those animals are going to die anyway, and money is more important than those damn owls

[Rye]

I keep expecting Captain Planet to appear in the news saying he's foiled President Evil at the last minute. I suppose all Bush has got left to do now is install a huge dish over America to force everyone to buy his electricity and he can supplant Mr Burns as most evil cartoon villain.

That said, he was a crap superhero, I mean, vulnerable against the very thing you exist to defeat? Dumb.

[Solauren]

I'm beginning to wonder what the difference is between total stupidity and villiany now.

So far, I'm not seeing a difference.

Thank you, Mr. Bush, for proving that stupidy approximates evil

[Darksider]

upon seeing this article, i'm reminded of the simpsons episode where smithers tells Mr. Burns that he's crossed the line from everyday villany, to "Cartoonish Supervillany."