It's Official: The Endangered Species Act Is Broken
The Bush administration is reducing protections for endangered animals and plants.
Just six weeks before Democratic President-elect Barack Obama takes office, the current Republican administration is changing endangered species regulations.
Some mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have performed for 35 years are being eliminated. The scientists' advice from such reviews can delay or block dams, highways and other projects.
The new rules will take effect in about 30 days. The rules also prohibit federal agencies from evaluating the effect on endangered species and the places they live from a project's contribution to increased global warming.
Obama has promised to reverse the new rules. Congress also could overturn them. If Obama doesn't do something to reverse this, he will be no different than the current administration.
posted by birdchick at 2:50 PM
7 Comments:
Apparently he's still The Decider. Boy, if there was anyone I'd really like to see end up in an orange jumpsuit, picking up trash on the side of the highway...
Can we have the new guy now?
USFWS ignored the over 275,000 comments they received expressing opposition to this rule change. Completely, utterly ignored them.
There has got to be a specific project that is currently being blocked by the ESA that Dubya wanted pushed through right before Obama takes office. I just wish I knew what it was.
*sigh*
And I remember saying to my wife eight years ago, "Really, it's gonna be fine. How much damage can one President do, anyway?"
I said the same thing, P. Ollig, how bad could it be?
Nixon signed it into existence, he even he saw the Endangered Species Act was a good thing.
I agree with Jess, I'd like to see him in the orange jumpsuit cleaning up along the highways.
Worst...president...EVER...
I don't think Obama will over turn this. He wants all these new infrastructure projects and the ESA would block his way.
And there I was worrying I'd said something unreasoned, and perhaps nasty. Now I make no apology. Orange jumpsuit and trash-poker all the way.
I'm not sure it's so much a question of whether or not Obama would overturn it at all-- I don't get the impression that the new administration are for it. Really it's how soon that what worries me-- and how much damage might be done before he gets around to it. I'd hope that Congress would do something about it themselves, but I don't feel optimistic about that. And given that my own rep has voted in a a consistently gutless manner...argh.
I think many of us said "how bad can it be." Kudos to us for believing in the possibility of hope?
Let's HOPE Obama overturns this (and all the other midnight legislation this bastidd is putting through). I can't believe we don't have any way to stop psychos like Bush from pulling this crap.
Post a Comment
<< Home