As it enters its last months, the Bush administration has once again fallen foul of the U.S. environmental movement by proposing changes to to the endangered species legislation. Critics say the move will water down the effectiveness of the law.
Img: Californian condor. Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service
The new rules, which are subject to a 30-day comment, would see individual federal agencies deciding for themselves whether development imperils species.
Under current law, agencies must submit any plans which endanger species to government scientific review, which has for three decades decided if developments have the potential to harm endangered species.
The cutting out of the scientific review process would speed development but would considerably reduce protection levels for animals and plants, say environmentalists.
"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 to AP.
The move has also run into opposition from House Democrats, with Rep. Nick Rahall, (D-W.Va), chairman of the House committee that oversees the Interior Department, saying he was "deeply troubled," by the move, while Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), head of the Senate's environment committee, contending that Bush's plan was illegal.
"I am deeply troubled by this proposed rule, which gives federal agencies an unacceptable degree of discretion to decide whether or not to comply with the Endangered Species Act," said Rahall to the Washington Post. "Eleventh-hour rulemakings rarely, if ever, lead to good government -- this is not the type of legacy this Interior Department should be leaving for future generations."
However, the Post also quotes Dale Hall, who directs the Fish and Wildlife Service, as saying the proposed amendments will free up his service to concentrate on protecting wildlife more critically threatened than the relatively minor effects of individual developments.
"We have to have the ability to put our efforts where they're needed," Hall insisted, adding that individual agencies will have to take responsibility if their projects do harm a protected species. "This really says to the agencies, 'This law belongs to all of us. You're responsible to defend it.'"
The draft law is expected to be ready for actioning prior to the fall election.
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