Article source for : Bush to relax protected species rules
Aug 11, 2008 MSNBC "story":http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26143098/ :
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The Bush administration on Monday said it plans to let federal agencies decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants. The proposal, which does not require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have been performing for 35 years. Developers welcomed the plan, while environmentalists derided it.
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.
"These changes are designed to reduce the number of unnecessary consultations under the ESA so that more time and resources can be devoted to the protection of the most vulnerable species," the Interior Department said in its announcement.
The proposal would bar federal agencies from assessing the emissions from projects that contribute to global warming and its effect on species and habitats.
The Interior Department cited its recent decision on polar bears as an example. While listing polar bears as endangered due to melting sea ice habitat, it argues that scientists at this time cannot "draw a direct causal link between greenhouse gas emissions and distant observations of impacts affecting species. "*As a result*, it is inappropriate to consult on a remote agency action involving the contribution of emissions to global warming because it is not possible to link the emissions to impacts on specific listed species such as polar bears," the department stated.
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This is what happens when environmental kooks like the Toledo Zoo director go "too far":http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/NEWS16/801290369. In the long run, they end up doing more harm than good to the environment.
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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 U.S. 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. "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 will help focus expertise on projects that have serious repercussions for species. "We are trying to be more efficient, which means not do consultations that result in a difference for the species," Hall said.
"We are not being good stewards of our resources," he added, "when we pursue consultation in situations where the potential effects to a species are either unlikely, incapable of being meaningfully evaluated, wholly beneficial, or pose only a remote risk of causing jeopardy to the species or its habitat."
The proposal is subject to a 30-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 a source with the National Marine Fisheries Service. 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."
"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-Calif., chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, called the proposed changes illegal.
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br. Jan 29, 2008 - Toledo Blade - "Zoo's stance on climate woes sparks a backlash":http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/NEWS16/801290369 :
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[Toledo Zoo executive director Anne] Baker told members of the zoo's board during their monthly meeting yesterday she's proud to have participated in a Nov. 29 news conference the zoo hosted about the polar bear's possible listing as a federally endangered species because of global warming.
She and Randi Meyerson, the zoo's curator of mammals, spoke in favor of the designation at that event, along with representatives of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Ohio Environmental Council.
"If we are going to advocate for animals, we have to advocate for their environments and their environments are changing," Ms. Baker, who took over the zoo's helm less than 22 months ago, told her board.
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tag=environment
tag=birds
tag=moronism
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