Obama Restoring Endangered Species Act Provision

[Bast]

Today President Obama will restore rules requiring U.S. agencies consult with independent federal experts to determine if their actions might harm threatened and endangered species, according to an administration official who asked not to be identified, marking yet another reversal of President Bush's environmental legacy.

In December 2008, the Bush administration changed a longstanding practice under the Endangered Species Act by issuing rules that allowed agencies to move ahead with projects and programs without seeking an independent review by either the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Environmentalists and scientists said this shift could allow agencies to press ahead with plans that could hurt already-vulnerable species across the country.

Today Obama will issue a presidential memorandum, an administration official said, that will direct departments to yet again consult with the two agencies on decisions that could affect imperiled plants and animals "while the Interior and Commerce Departments review the Bush rulemaking."

The move, the official said, "will restore the status quo ante and allow the Interior and Commerce Departments to determine whether a new rule should be promulgated that will again codify the longstanding consultation practice under the" Endangered Species Act.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall (D-W.V.), who had decried the Bush rule and had been trying to reverse it through the legislative process, hailed Obama's decision.

"I wholeheartedly support the president's proposal to restore the protections for endangered species that the Bush administration spent so many years trying to undermine," Rahall said in an interview. "It is one more indication that the new administration truly represents change for the better and is committed to the protection of our natural resources and our environment. I think we know who would have been the winner in this fox guarding the hen house scenario advanced by the Bush administration, and it would not be the hens."

Obama is scheduled to visit the Interior Department this afternoon, to commemorate the agency's 160th anniversary.

Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said the memorandum would have a tremendous impact.

"Endangered species are breathing a deep sigh of relief today," Suckling said. "The consultation process is the heart of the Endangered Species Act power. By reversing Bush's attempt to deregulate the consultation process, Obama restored oversight and balance and has given endangered species a good fighting chance of survival."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/03/03/obama_restores_endangered_spec.html?wprss=44

President Obama! Incredible work and not even two months in.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Incredible work and not even two months in.

Well, yes... but really, it's just overturning a last-minute Bush Administration thingy.

Housecleaning, if you will.

 

[Kraznaya]

So... companies essentially got a month and a half to go wild on the environment and now they're reigned in again?

 

[Simple Simon]

So... companies essentially got a month and a half to go wild on the environment and now they're reigned in again?

No, the horror started early in the first Bush term, where Dubya made the EPA and the Justice Department NOT use legal means to enforce compliance with Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, etc.
There's a good book, full of references to check: Strategic Ignorance by Carl Pope and some other guy. Check it out...
Also: Undermining Science by (sp?) Seth Shulman.

 

[Thorvald of Lym]

Baby steps, but at least the healing can start...

 

[Phlegmak]

Some youtube video posted by xanthaz (or however his username is spelled) was by a Texan who said "F every other species. They can all go extinct. Humans are it." And then he ironically stated, later in his video, "god gave humans the Earth to use, not abuse." The irony police are calling.

 

[El_Machinae]

Good news for those people with ecology degrees, since there will obviously be a need for investigators on either side of an environmental review. Tough for the companies, since all bureaucracy is a headache for them.

 

[Abaddon]

Good news indeed.
Shame about the economy. Glad things like this are not killed by it.

 

[Riffraff]

Good news for those people with ecology degrees, since there will obviously be a need for investigators on either side of an environmental review. Tough for the companies, since all bureaucracy is a headache for them.

How bout: Good for our planet

 

[El_Machinae]

Let's just hope it is :crosses fingers:
Regulations and bureaucracy don't always end up causing environmental protection; we just have to hope that we get intelligent regulators.

 

[Simple Simon]

Good news for those people with ecology degrees, since there will obviously be a need for investigators on either side of an environmental review. Tough for the companies, since all bureaucracy is a headache for them.

Good news indeed.
Shame about the economy. Glad things like this are not killed by it.

Let's just hope it is :crosses fingers:
Regulations and bureaucracy don't always end up causing environmental protection; we just have to hope that we get intelligent regulators.

Hm, killing off bull trouts in Washington state (IIRC) so farmers can irrigate their fields (illegally) resulted in a 1 to 4 loss ratio: $1 earned, $6 lost for the local economy. I can look up the details on that example, if you want me to.

'The economy' is not only big companies that clear-cut, plant genetically engineered plant, or build suburban sprawl. It is also tourism, e.g. - and often a quick profit for the destructive businesses is smaller than a long-term profit for the small regional businesses that allow a sustainable development.

 

[King of Town]

Hopefully one of his next stops if he's on an eco kick will be the coal mining in Appalachia.

 

[Bast]

Hopefully one of his next stops if he's on an eco kick will be the coal mining in Appalachia.

Hmm... very, very good point.

 

[Simple Simon]

Hopefully one of his next stops if he's on an eco kick will be the coal mining in Appalachia.

Indeed! The way the Bush administration forced the EPA to re-define the rules there is appalling!

 

[Godwynn]

I like how MobBoss states in other threads that Obama isn't changing from Bush, but avoids threads like these.

 

[Simple Simon]

I like how MobBoss states in other threads that Obama isn't changing from Bush, but avoids threads like these.

linky? pleeease!

 

[Godwynn]

linky? pleeease!

I will not discuss specifics about users on the forum, however you will want to check your PM's.

Anyway, hurray Obama!